Sexualising Women’s Sport

[Gyakuto162 171]

Sydney Sweeny’s the one that came up with both the idea and particulars of that ad. Now everyone’s talking about it. Even on forums.

That’s true, the advertising has worked and I’m rushing out to buy her brand of trainers/sneakers…I mean manly fragrance…erectile dysfunction medication?..what was she actually trying to sell?

 

[skribs161 182]

Maybe she should be taken to the Castle Anthrax from The Holy Grail movie for penance.

That's on my bucket list.

 

[Stuarto112]

When training in their athletics clubs it seems sports people wear looser fitting, fuller-coverage clothing when and yet when they enter the stadium they wear briefs, crop tops, full makeup and often, jewellery too (sprinters in particular). So are they complicit in eroticising their athletic form?

But, in a similar vein, young women should be able to safely wear whatever they like when they go out clubbing and not fear sexual comments or, Odin forbid, sexual assault. But I wouldn’t smear myself in meat juice and then walk through a lion’s den. But, men are not lions…

A man receiving unsolicited sexual comments is very different to a woman receiving them. It’s not logical, but it’s true.

Sex sells things because we allow it to by buying those things. Tabloid newspaper harassment of celebrities occurs because idiots buy tabloid newspapers filled with tittle-tattle and lies. Just stop it!

It has been going on since the beginning of man and will go on till the human race ceases to exist. Sex does sell and will continue to sell. Is it wrong? Morally and legally by our society's standards, it is. But it's ingrained in human nature, that's why it will never go away.
We can't stop it

 

[Gyakuto162 171]

Yes, you’re probably right, Stuarto.

Can sex be used in an unexploitative way to sell things?

 

[Tgace]

IMO, the flaw in this argument is a category error: it confuses Hollywood celebrity marketing with the real-world representation of female athletes.

Sydney Sweeney is an actress, not a professional athlete, and her campaign for a sports betting platform was never intended as a commentary on women’s athletics or a representation of female athletes. It is a standard commercial targeted at a predominantly male audience of sports bettors, using a high-profile pop-culture figure to market betting on major, male-dominated professional leagues.

Looking at this ad through the lens of "female athletic representation" creates a false premise, as Sweeney has no sporting performance to measure; she is simply serving as a celebrity spokesperson.

European television networks adjusting camera angles for female pole vaulters mixes two completely unrelated concepts. The debate over camera angles in track and field concerns real competitors. In contrast, corporate advertising is designed by marketing teams to drive engagement through celebrity appeal. While there is a valid ongoing conversation regarding how sports media outlets frame and respect actual female competitors, using a Hollywood actress's gambling commercial as a proxy for the treatment of female athletes creates a false outrage that ignores what the ad actually is and who it was made for.