Sex and Sports. A match made in…heaven?

Posted on February 27th, 2008. Written by Emmett Jones.

The most popular axiom in advertising today seems to be “Sex sells”. Don’t believe me? Turn on your television, watch 5 straight commercials, and count how many scantily clad women you see. Sex is used to sell everything…music, clothes, beverages, cars, food, and domain hosting (GoDaddy, anyone?). But does sex sell sports or does sports sell sex? Which one has a greater effect on the consumer at large?

Historically, sexual advertising is overwhelmingly used to attract men; advertisers use scantily clad women to entice men into buying a product or visiting a place (or sex is just unnecessarily put into an ad for no reason, just because). But for a subject like sports, where men are already attracted to the product, it seems as though sexual advertising would only have a negligible impact on the viewer…right? The simple answer, in my opinion anyway, is “It depends on the sport.”

Take a look at the team sports, like football. The NFL pulled in over $6 billion in revenues in 2006. Most teams in the NFL attempt to utilize sex in every single game…they’re called cheerleaders. They perform at halftime, they’re shown during commercial breaks, or in between plays on the sidelines, etc. Are cheerleaders fun to look at? of course. But how many Dallas Cowboys fans base their decision to go to a game based on the Cowboys Cheerleaders? Probably not that many. How many Knicks fans are drawn to the game to see the Knicks girls? Baseball and Hockey really don’t even utilize sex as an advertising tool and they’re still able to bring in billions in revenue each year. Team sports seemingly bring in very little revenue from sexual advertising on its face, so, why do those that use sex do so in the first place? Well, I have five words for you, “Miami Dolphins Cheerleader Swimsuit Calendar”. Football and Basketball actually rely on the strength of their sport to sell sex, not the other way around. The Dolphins calendar would just be another group of attractive women posing in a calendar, but for the fact that they are associated with the Miami Dolphins. The question that immediately arises is, Does sport accomplish what nothing else in the world is seemingly able to do? Does sport transcend sex?” Well, I don’t know if I’m willing to make that statement, but there does appear to be times when certain sports can appear to have the upper hand, but not always. Women’s team sports, for example, never seem to reach the transcendent level that say football reaches. But why? Well, it’s difficult, to showcase the sexuality of women in the WNBA or women’s soccer when they’re relegated to a particular uniform or to wide-shot camera angles. Sexual advertising usually involves provocative clothing, or less clothing…its kind of hard to be provocative when you’re wearing your L.A. Sparks jersey. Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule (see Womens Beach Volleyball).

So sex can pretty much be a toss up in its effect on team sports, but, what about individual sports? That, dear friends, is an entirely different story. For one, the commodity in an individual sport is the individual. It’s obviously easier to mold an image when dealing with an individual versus a whole team. Furthermore, everybody may not be on board when it comes to team image, whereas with an individual you only have to convince one person. Finally, as superficial as it may sound, you can’t turn everyone into a sex symbol. For every “Tom Brady” on a team you also have a few dozen 300lbs linemen. Not every athlete has the ability to bring “sexyback”. But, for those athletes who can promote/advertise themselves using their sexuality? the sky is the limit. You don’t even have to be good at your sport (Anna Kournikova?) to get an endorsement deal, and if you are actually successful at your sport? Super-stardom is right around the corner.

Sex and sports have a very strange relationship. Sex is a very powerful marketing tool. It is used to advertise nearly any and every product in today’s marketplace, including the athlete in an non-team sport. It is so powerful, that its used in team sports settings, even when it doesn’t seem to be effective. On the same hand, sports is also very powerful in today’s marketplace. It is so powerful that it is even used to sell or enhance the sales of sex. So, which one has a greater effect on today’s consumer? Leave your answer in the comments.

1 Responses »

1. 

   art

   September 14, 2009 • 1:15 pm

   any athlete, including serena williams should be dropped from all product endorsements by the respective companies. a fine is a slap on the wrist to these people and the lesson learned and sent to the kids who lookup and admired them should carry a heavier penalty.

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