The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has a new global ad campaign with the tagline “Strong is Beautiful”. This concept isn’t exactly new but it is appropriate and inspiring none-the-less. Well at least that’s how the WTA sees it but others seem to disagree. The WTA photographed 38 of their current stars and plan to use the tagline in TV, print, digital and social media. The imagery is strong and the the execution is well done but will it attract more people to follow women’s tennis? Time will tell. The organization plans to run the campaign for the next two years.
Time.com recently published an article on topic of female sports advertising and apparently some people took issue with the new campaign. The article shared, “But according to a number of sports-media researchers, the campaign — like so many others in female sports—undermines its players’ achievements by sexualizing them, inadvertently or otherwise.”
I’m not sure I agree with that statement but the argument is is that it undermines the athlete’s accomplishments. The piece by William Lee Adams goes on to share, “Yes, these women are beautiful, but we see lots of cleavage and legs, and it’s set to music that is reminiscent of soft-core porn,” says Nicole LaVoi, associate director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sports at the University of Minnesota. “That might be interesting and titillating, but it isn’t going to make me turn on Wimbledon.”
The commercial that Nicole is referring to with “soft-core porn” remnants is shown below.
I’d be curious to know how Nicole thinks women’s tennis should be portrayed in order to make people tune into women’s tennis.
There are a number of beautifully shot images shown on wtatennis.com, check them out here. The thinking behind the campaign as shared by the WTA…
“We want to develop a closer relationship with our fans and attract a new generation of fans to women’s tennis, and the Strong is Beautiful campaign is one way to get it done. This campaign will serve as a creative marketing platform for our players, tournaments, year-end WTA Championships and the entire sport,” said Stacey Allaster, Chairman & CEO of the WTA. “The personal stories are inspirational. The unique combination of athleticism, strength and determination on the court and success, interests and inner beauty off the court is what makes women’s tennis so attractive to millions around the world.”
What do you think?
photo via: www.wtatennis.com
