| Summary: | The focus of this study is on media images of sportswomen that have both appearance
and athletic elements (termed sexualized performance athlete) and it theorizes and
empirically investigates consumer attitudes and perceptions in relation to sexualized
performance imagery. Since the purpose of this study was to gather deep consumer
insights, the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) was used to investigate
attitudes, thoughts and feelings of young, female and athletic participants (n=10) in
relation to sexualized performance imagery.
Using ZMET, three main themes emerged: (1) Sexualized and athletic elements of
sexualized performance athlete imagery (2) Symbolic Metaphors for sexualized
performance athletes (3) Attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of sexualized performance
imagery of athletes and its connection to society and reality. The method allowed to
uncover conscious and unconscious consumer thought and gain a deep understanding of
attitude, motivation and perception through surfacing metaphors participants associate
with sexualized performance imagery.
By exploring the attitudes of participants and how they perceive and asses sexualized
performance imagery which combines athletic and appearance factors, this research
contributes to literature about objectification and gathers empirical data in regards to the
societal and cultural impact of these images which further gives insight about the dual
identity theory and its literature. Using participant-gathered stimuli and imagery, this study
will give an understanding of whether sexualized elements or athletic elements dominate
for viewers in sexualized performance imagery and give advertising and marketing
practitioners deep insights into how consumers perceive sexualized content and the
emotional aspects that influences them and their attitudes.
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