The sponsorship will see the brand get namechecks on both programmes, after Coke signed a deal with the Official UK Charts Company -- despite the fact that BBC rules forbid it from accepting advertising.
The BBC has said that it was not involved in brokering the deal, and said that Coca-Cola would get two mentions, which was within producer guidelines. It will not receive any money for promoting Coca-Cola on air.
People campaigning for a healthier diet for children are up in arms at the deal. The Food Commission, which is highly critical of the way companies promote junk food, reacted angrily.
Policy officer Kathy Dalmeny told the Metro newspaper: "This is completely two-faced, as they got lots of publicity for saying that they don't advertise to people under 12 and then sponsor a programme which targets teens and young children."
In November Coke said that it would no longer be directly targeting the under-12 market, because of concerns that sugary drinks were contributing to the problem of obesity. However, it continues to sponsor school football and debating. The company did not return calls to comment.
Top of the Pops was relaunched last Friday, attracting 2m more viewers than usual giving it a peak of 6.1m-- but also the ire of fans, who have described the show on the BBC's own website as being "plastic, formulaic and as memorable as a bad Chinese meal", "utter dross" and "embarrassingly bad".
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