INTRODUCTION: Positive Ad Campaigns

VOLLEYBALL: Wrap Up and Conclusion

After researching and analyzing ad's for the past couple of weeks, I have found that Volleyball as a women's sport has had both a negative and positive representation.  Many of the ad's showcased women in bikini's, but one has to realize that is their uniform.  Women in beach volleyball, play in bikini's to maximize performance.  However, one has to wonder how much of the sport's spectator's are truly interested in the sport but also watch to see the women's rock hard bodies in action.

Just as soccer, swimming, triathlon, basketball, etc. all are sports that are mainly watched by men, women can partake in viewing them for both pleasure and for the pure enjoyment of the toned and athletic bodies being put on display.  So to simply analyze advertisements with the perspective of a women, it is hard to say that advertisers only utilize women in a negative and over sexualized light.  However, there are a lot of outwardly extreme sexualized versions, there are also advertisements that showcase the talent and hard work that these women have put into their sport.  To say that the issue is either this or that, black or white, would be inaccurate.  The messages that are being sent are both controversial, confusing and contradictory, but one can choose to look at these portrayals with a clear mind, critical eye and greater awareness.  In doing this, he or she can truly see what the message and images are being presented and how those images speak to that individual and to our culture and society as a whole.

VOLLEYBALL: The bikini's role in Volleyball

Positive advertisements for women in sports, who knew? After researching for ad's for the past couple weeks, I have had a hard time finding even one ad that perpetuates a positive, powerful, healthy image for women. Many of the advertisements seen in today's media for women in sports are sexualized and objectified through their body parts. Volleyball is no exception. Kerri Walsh, a professional volleyball player is seen here as a strong role model and competitor.

As many of you know, beach volleyball is a sport whose uniform is a scantily clad bikini. Because it is played on a beach or sand court and takes place usually in high temperatures the women need to be able to perform, therefore we have the bikini.  As controversial as it can be, the bikini in volleyball can be seen as a showcase of the body that has worked and trained to become sculpted and muscular.  Although serving a dual purpose, the bikini as seen in this ad is a mere accessory.  The main focus is Kerri Walsh and her athleticism and skill.  Walsh is perpetrated as an athlete, not a swimsuit model or an object for men to stare at.  She is a competitor and a positive influence for both men and women alike.

VOLLEYBALL: Kerri Walsh promoting her own sexuality

Kerri Walsh, a professional volleyball player, known for her talent and athleticism with partner Misty May. In this advertisement, Walsh is not only promoting a positive cause- the resolution and cure for HIV/AIDS, but is selling herself short. She is standing in a strong position, yet isn't looking into the camera and is actually faced with her back toward the camera. To amplify this confusing message, Walsh is wearing what seems to be, her team uniform- a bathingsuit. As many know, beach volleyball 'uniforms' are comprised of merely a bikini. However, when trying to sell an advertisement that speaks to a very serious issue, she is promoting her sexuality as well.

In opposition, one may argue that Walsh is a prominent figure in volleyball and is continuing to uphold her image in a positive light through her support of this company. However, she may not be well known in anything but a beach bikini. If Walsh was portrayed in this image in clothes and without the volleyball, would the viewer even know who she was?

As advertisements are often confusing and hard to analyze, this Until.com ad proposes some interesting questions: is Walsh selling sex or promoting her career? What would happen if Walsh was seen wearing clothes instead of her signature bikini? Would anyone know who she was? Would the advertisement recieve less attention?

These questions need to be considered when portraying women in a sexual light, especially when coupled with a product or good cause. It not only confuses the reader, but continues to delineate the types of stereotypes that we have, not only for women, but women in sports.

VOLLEYBALL: Ad Campaign for Volleyball

Here we have yet again, another ad promoting a volleyball tournament by showcasing a woman's butt in a bikini. By analyzing this ad in conjunction with the other ad's used for this campaign, one can see that the company chooses to sell sex rather than sport.

The bikini the woman is wearing is not even a sports bikini, but has a chain-link bottom that holds it together. One could argue that this is a fashion-statement and promotes the great bodies that volleyball players yeild. However, by only showing this woman's butt, it makes their message loud and clear. The woman's face is no longer important, her talent for the sport or even her ability. Yet, what is important, is her butt. Her butt is what sells tickets. Her butt is what men want to see when they watch volleyball. They don't care about the game or who wins or how well the women play, but how good their butt looks in a bikini.

Unfortunately, this is not representative of women volleyball players, and reduces them down to objects. Sadly, women are not praised for their athleticism and are continously being portrayed as sex objects for men.  If the media and producers of media in sports related advertisements continue to see women as objects rather than competitors and for the talent they possess, it negates women's equality and continues to perpetuate the oversexualized negative attention that they are misrepresented for.

VOLLEYBALL: Promotion through objectification

This promotional advertisement for the AVP tour is clearly taking a women's butt and objectifying it to sell tickets for a volleyball tournament. The backside of women volleyball players is something that is overly problematic within the advertising industry. Media tend to use this as a tool to not only sell a product or tickets in this case, but have yet to realize the implications for their actions.

By focusing in on a specific object, such as a woman's butt, the advertising industry is selling sex, negating women and telling the viewer that the sole importance of watching a volleyball tournament is to see women's bodies. The women who are being objectified in this are not only the hard working and athletic volley ball players, but all women in general. Rather than showing a women playing volleyball in an athletic and positive light, the ad merely shows a woman's backside as her only 'asset'.

Women are continually being scrutinized through the media and portrayed in a negative light, and society continually wonders why eating disorders and violence cointinue to prevail in our society. How can we continue to promote oversexualized images of strong women when all we do is promote their body parts in order to sell products?

VOLLEYBALL: More than just the view from behind

This advertisement or poster is the typical focus for most male directed ad's. It centers on the physical and promotes sexuality for women. It clearly identifies volleyball as a sport that is not about the athleticisim, but merely an opportunity to watch women run around in bikini's. In addition to this objectification of women, the ad generalizes and promotes the idea that all Brazilian women have nice butts, for lack of a better term. The ad focuses on their backsides and does not provide any indication that women in volleyball are competitors, athletic or positive. It clearly stipulates the notion that volleyball excentuates and provides men with the opportunity to, yet again, view women as sexual objects that can only be represented through over-sexualized images rather than athletes or competitors.

Volleyball's role in the sports areana is interesting within advertising because much of the advertisements promoted for the sport, tend to focus on beach volleyball. The media takes a sport that is rigourous and intense and provides the viewer with images of bikini clad women that are freshly oiled up and seen as spectacles for male pleasure. Their backsides are the main focus of any ad, along with their rock-hard ab's. Rather than promoting the sport or focusing on the athleticism and talent of these women, they choose to focus on the body and objectify women through their ability to run around in a bikini.  Is there a way media producers can showcase the hard work and dedication that goes into playing beach volleyball or how their rock hard bodies are a result of their athleticism and physical abilities?  In an effort to combine the two powerful sources-- sex and sports-- advertisers need to empower women yet diffuse the ideas of sexuality in order to hinder negative stereotypes.