國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
1994). Modern sportswear, moreover, helped women to enhance their feminine, sexy
characteristics, and the curved body shape no longer points to leisurewear or sportswear
but is more practical, functional, and fashionable. In this spirit, sports has become
inseparable from the commercialization of the female body and the commercialization
of sexuality (Hargreaves, 1994).
It was clear that, under the saturation of the public culture industry, girls were
bombarded with idealized images of the female shape that were almost impossible to
ignore and separate from consumer culture (Hargreaves, 1994). Reading and analyzing
media sports texts provided opportunities to reify social ideology and manipulation of
cultural power. So far, the body presentations of sportswomen correspond to the gender
inequity and the dominant heterosexuality in sports (Hargreaves, 1994), which putting
under Taiwan road running texts, demanded further examination of sportswomen’s
characteristics and what kind of the body aesthetic values it praised.
2.3 Sports and media: the happiest marriage
(1) Sports and capital (sports/ media complex)
Sports is difficult to separate from the media. The relationship between sports and
the media was central in benefit exchange, especially in magnifying the economic
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
profits (Rowe, 1996); both mutually depended on each other, so it has been described
as the happiest marriage. Previous studies have done a great deal to explore the linkage
between the two, and there were several reasons that sports and the media are meant
for each other. Rowe (2004) pointed out that sports can easily catch people’s attention,
satisfying and stimulating public demands. In addition, it offered news report;
meanwhile, produced consumer loyalty to media content and advertised products. The
media, on the one hand, met the “uncertainty and emergent” principle of sports,
functionally generating instant updates, vivid images, constant sports results, and
off-screen information that can hardly be replaced. It is a means to stimulate people’s
interest before an event and revitalize sporting events afterwards (Rowe, 2004). Jhally
(1984) coined the term “sports/media complex” to describe the interweaving and
complicated relationship between sports and media after examining the material and
cultural dynamic of North American sports development. In his paper, he claimed the
historical turning point, for it clearly indicates the intimate relationship between sports
and media is the emergence of professional sports and television.
The emergence of the television made sports a body-absent activity; people do not
need to be present, as just pressing a button and turn on the television is enough to enjoy
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
a wonderful sporting event with different angles (zoom-in, replay, slow motion) and
splendid comments. The possibility of body absence drove advertisers to pay for the
media (television) while arranging a series of advertisements placed between media
sports content to lure the audience into the commodity world (Jhally, 1984; Wenner,
1989; Rowe, 2004). However, the visible media sports content per se is not what is
being sold; the intangible but real “audience” is considered the most valuable and
reliable commodity and is the crucial key to stimulate the marriage of the media and
sports (Jhally, 1984). Jhally concluded that sports’ commodification, from sports itself
to the appearance of television, created an “audience time” commodity, and further
links to advertised commodities and solidified the combination of the media (television)
and sports.
By drawing upon Jhally’s discussion of the sports/media complex, later Western
scholars placed more emphasis on the sports broadcast industry, mostly related to
televised, spectator sports (Cave & Crandall, 2001). Due to the severe competition for
sports broadcast rights, the broadcast industry became monopolistic with high
broadcast fees and once the television withdrew the financial support, many sports
organizations would immediately collapse sports organization (Wenner, 1989).
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Therefore, whether the existence of a few hegemonic authorities could harm sports
development and further affect public sports rights and the government’s role in the
broadcasting sector were the nexus discussions of sports broadcast rights studies
(Scherer, J & Whitson, 2009; Smith, 2010). Not surprisingly, given its profile, the vast
majority of research into sports and media has focused on mega sports events, like
Olympics, NBA, MLB, mostly counted as spectator sports, but what needed to be
explained more with respect to the sports/media complex was participatory sports, like
road running.
(2) Sports sponsorship
Road running has a rather discernible sports/media complex pattern compared
with ball games (spectator sports). First, broadcast right are not the main revenues for
road running, therefore sponsors replaced TV advertisers in attracting road running
attendants and targeted audience group. The media, then, played the role of promoting
the sports events by generating mediated sport contents. Sports organization, in this
case could be sporting goods manufacturers like Nike/ Mizuno or other sports
marketing company (see Figure 1).
Under the impact of globalization, Nike’s brand name and its swoosh logo, have
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
become a popular, well-known symbol in the world. According to Goldman and
Papson(1998), Nike is a money-making machine. This multinational corporation
produced top-line shoes in five countries, and successfully creates, promotes, and
inspires consumption. The individualism places in Nike’s slogan like “Just do it”,
“There is no finish line”, and “You don’t win silver- you lose gold”, emphasizes
self-empowerment, and create a commodity culture in the era of globalization (Miller,
Lawrence, Mckay, Rowe, 2001).
Figure1. A model of media, sports, and sponsors’ relationships
Given that road running sponsorship agreements are increasingly considered as an
important strategic investments for firms seek to achieve certain corporate objects, not Sponsors
Media Organizations
Sports Organizations Mediated
Sports Content
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
merely selling their product but gaining company reputation (蘇伯千、何育敏、褚曾
文、楊聯琦Su Po-Chien, Ho Yu-Min, Chuu Tseng-Wen, Yang Lain-Chi, 2014). “Title
sponsor” is a prevalent way to introduce capital into marathons. Both 方信淵、林裕
恩、高錦勝Fang Shin-Yuan, Lin Yu-En, and Kao Jin-Sheng(2005) and 黃蕙娟 Huang
Hui-Chuan (2010) provided invaluable information and analysis on ING Taipei
marathon marketing strategies. First, the ING group is the initial group that organized
sponsorship for global marathon events (方信淵等人 Fang Shin-Yuan et al., 2005). In
黃蕙娟Huang Hui-Chuan’s (2010) study of the 2004-2008 ING Taipei marathon, she
pointed out that the marathon was co-organized by Taipei’s government and road
running associations and at the same time sponsored by and named for ING. The ING
Taipei marathon used several marketing tools, such as advertising, media booklets, and
Internet marketing, not restricted to television but included various ways to appeal to
more participants.
Compared with Taiwan road running sponsorship studies, focused more on
large-scale events and the effects of integrated marketing communication, Shaw and Amis
(2001), cut through a different dimension to discuss sports sponsorship. They attempted
to acquire an understanding of why some firms choose not to invest in women’s sports
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
while others do. Shaw and Amis (2001) first stated unequivocally that women’s sports
has the potential to be a very useful marketing tool for certain firms who try to target
female consumers. They discussed three main factors that caused women’s sports being
largely ignored as a marketing tool by most firms. The prejudiced values and beliefs of
senior, male decision makers, the subordinate media representation of women, and
mimetic pressure on managers who try to lower the uncertainty factors by imitating
other company’s behavior. Though they only compared two firms’ decision making on
sponsor women’s sports, it helps clarify the focus of the current study. From sponsor’s
point of view, whether female road running is worth invested or not, based on how
female runners been represented on the media, and whether other firms have considered
endorsing female road running as a marketing tool. Lastly, and most importantly, the
decision maker’s perception and imagination of female road running.
From spectator to participatory sports, men’s to women’s sports, TV advertisers to
sports sponsors, media and sports are still closely stick to each other. The sports/ media
complex would not easily be replaced. Accordingly, the dynamic of how sports/ media
complex works in a participatory, women’s sports is something worth to discuss. Before
I depict and clarify my research questions and methods, I would like to outline the
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Taiwan’s road running development first.