For this week's blog I chose to examine a "Just Do It" commercial by Nike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPkyPdubqDs
The commercial portrayed typical gender stereotypes by showing females doing sports such as Tennis and Running while the males were shown doing sports such as Boxing, Soccer, and Basketball. The athletes involved in the commercials were adhering to dominant gender roles and identities. This may be due to the fact that the "sports world" is created to be what Coakley defines as...
"1. Male dominated so that the characteristics of men are used as standards for judging qualifications.
2. Male identified so that the orientations and actions of men are used as standards for defining what is right and normal
3. Male centered so that men and men's lives are the expected focus of attention in sport programs, stories, legends, and media coverage." (Coakley, 249-250)"
I found it interesting that the message at the end of the commercial was that the pinnacle of basketball skill was a "dunk contest" (Skill stereotype).
The consequences that these commercials create is an effect on all of the young children. The young people learn from media what it means to be a "successful" athlete. The young people are subliminally taught to enforce gender roles and identities through these advertisements. Once the commercials stop enforcing gendered identities than it will be easier to eliminate the problem of gender bias in sports.
Great connection back to Coakley. I thought it was interesting in the commercial that the women's successes were on a small scale compared to the men's. The female tennis star played at what looked like a house party while the soccer player was obviously playing in a big stadium. Serena Williams was shown only briefly while LeBron James garnered at least 15 seconds of the commercial. This commercial plays in to the assumption that women's successes as athletes are not on the same scale of those for men.
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