Has marketing women's sport moved on from Ladyball?

Opinion: how women's sport is sold often reduces it to a 'pinkified' pursuit which is inferior to and less serious than men's sport

By Dr Niamh Kitching, Mary Immaculate College Limerick

Followers of women’s sport remember where they were when it first appeared on a Twitter feed, newspaper spread or before the nine o’clock news. It was January 2016, and Lidl and the LGFA had conspired in the multi-platform advertising stunt of a fabricated pink ball product called ‘Ladyball’. The product was placed in pink, shiny packaging and accompanied by slogans such as "fashion-driven for a woman’s style", "eazi-play for a woman’s ability" and "don’t break a nail, break boundaries".

Advertisements popped up on national television, radio, newspapers, online and throughout social media, with consumers directed to various social media channels. Within three days, Ladyball reached over 8.5 million users on social media and the campaign was even discussed in Fortune magazine and the Washington Post.

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2016 ad introducing the #Ladyball

As previously discussed on RTÉ Brainstorm, sport is constructed as a male domain in the media. When women do appear, they are framed differently to men and in ways that deem them different. Similarly, strategies used in the marketing and advertising of women's sport have reduced it to a sexualised, infantilized, hyper feminised, 'pinkified’ pursuit, at all times inferior to and less serious than men’s sport.

For example, the focus on sexualised appearances like in the Ladyball models case deflects attention away from women’s athletic performances and positions sport as "by" and "for" men. These gendered representations can restrict the public’s imagination about women’s sport and what women can achieve.

There’s increasing recognition that women’s sport offers sponsors flexibility and the ability to achieve their marketing objectives more efficiently and effectively than their competitors. This is particularly the case with commercial related goals such as promoting gender equality and corporate social responsibility. Similarly, women athletes are viewed by brands as potential role models and champions of diversity and inclusion. In this way, women’s sport is a much more attractive proposition than it might have been prior to the days of Ladyball.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Cian McCormack investigates if the number of Irish women taking international honours in sport will change how we view and fund female sports

Public relations and advertising campaigns often curtail the representation of women athletes or women’s sport in a way that is gendered. For example, surfing companies prosper on sexualised images of female professionals with little regard for their surfing performance or prowess. A study of Nike advertising over a ten-year period found that Nike commercials treat sport as a predominantly male domain.

Representations of Naomi Osaka, one of the most marketable athletes in the world, by her sponsors Nissin Foods indicated both gendered and racialised ideologies which she herself challenges. As representations go, the 2020 launch of the Irish rugby jersey had Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki and Conor Murray promoting the men’s jersey, while the women’s jersey was worn by models, not players. These examples serve to reproduced traditional stereotypes around sport for women and girls.

While research is growing around female fan types, gendered marketing practices such as "pinkification" have become commonplace in the merchandising of sport to women. While pink versions of team jerseys are posed as inclusive efforts, they are also considered less authentic and simultaneously serve to infantilise and hyperfeminise women sports fans. Fans of women’s soccer were dismayed when the US Soccer Federation released apparel with love hearts and slogans such as ‘US Soccer cutie’ in 2020.

From RTÉ 2fm's Game On in 2020, Sarah Colgan and Heather Thornton of 20x20 discuss their campaign to change the perception of women's sport

The marketing of women’s football to a heteronormative family target audience in England women’s football illustrates the tunnel-visioned marketing practices employed in women’s sport. Sports organisations should be mindful to recognise the diversity of female fans, and in doing so provide a wider range of products that demonstrate their fans’ authenticity.

In terms of reactions to sponsor/media representations of women athletes, sports fans appear to rate athletic performance related images of female athletes more positively than sexualised ones. While women athletes themselves similarly prefer being portrayed as competent in sponsorship campaigns, there is also evidence of old stereotypes embedded in their worldviews. Athlete participants in one study outlined that ‘soft porn’ was the best representation strategy to increase interest in women in sport. Worringly in this case, ‘sex sells’ for some women athletes, particularly to male audiences.

Three days into #Ladyball, both Lidl and the LGFA owned up to the stunt, which led to the second stage of the promotion, a far-reaching campaign called #SeriousSupport. This phase was accompanied by an ambitious advertisement capped by the phrase "serious athletes deserve serious support".

From Lidl and LGFA, Level the Playing Field campaign from 2021

Later campaigns were just as eye-catching, particularly the "Level the Playing Field" TV ad from 2021. These examples, along with Sky's recent #OutBelieve campaign for the Republic of Ireland women’s soccer team are more in line with the new 'rules’ for female athlete representation and indicate the distance travelled since Ladyball.

In summary, the framing of women athletes in advertisements can tell us a lot about the cultural landscape of the sport, medium and/or sponsor image. The next time you come across a female athlete or women's sports team in a media campaign, take a closer look.

A longer version of this piece will be published later this year in Social Issues in Sport Communication: You Make the Call, edited by Terry L. Rentner and David P. Burns and published by Routledge.

Dr Niamh Kitching is a Lecturer in physical education at Mary Immaculate College Limerick.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

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