For my advertisement, I chose a fairly recent commercial involving LeBron James. James is commonly referenced as one of the most physically talented individuals in the whole of sport (not just his sport of basketball), and the commercial shows him playing for the Cleveland Browns football team. While this scenario is entirely hypothetical, the ad shows him displaying his athletic prowess on the field, with almost superhuman levels of agility and strength. With regards to gender, this commercial portrays a famous male athlete as incredibly strong and athletic, as the clip shows how his physical capabilities would help him excel on a football field. This is largely representative of how male athletes are marketed, as superhuman physical specimens who dominate their competition. It is extremely unlikely that a female athlete would ever be portrayed in this manner, as they are considered athletically inferior to men in almost all sports media coverage. Even famous female athletes would likely not feature in a commercial showcasing their athletic ability in a different sport, as this ad does for LeBron. Because of this, the public often has a skewed perspective of athletes based on the gender differences through their portrayal in advertising and the sports media. Male athletes such as LeBron are displayed as almost godlike in their athletic ability, whereas female athletes are portrayed more passively and are more sexualized. Overall, if sport is to achieve a state of gender equality, the way that male and female athletes are portrayed needs to be more homogenized than it is currently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NZASF_ADKU
No comments:
Post a Comment