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女生跑起來! 企業、媒體與路跑中的女性 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程. International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 碩士論文. Master’s Thesis. 立. 政 治 大. ‧ 國. 學. 女生跑起來! 企業、媒體與路跑中的女性. ‧. Girls, Run!. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Business, Media, and Women in Road Running. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Student: Cheng-Ying Lin 林政穎 Advisor: Professor Chang-De Liu 劉昌德教授. 中華民國一O五年七月. July 2016.

(2) Abstract Short distance running with diverse themes, compared with traditional marathons, has become popular all over Taiwan in recent years. Women whom usually are seen as a subordinate and minor group in sports have attracted sporting goods manufacturers to jump onward the bandwagon of holding female road running events. This study (1) describes how Taiwanese road running publications represent. 政 治 大 sporting women, including the characteristics, gender power relationships and body 立. ‧ 國. 學. aesthetic values; and (2) explores strategies of sporting goods manufacturers,. ‧. marketing companies, and media producers to construct female road running. By. Nat. er. io. sit. y. conducting discourse analysis and in-depth interviews, this paper compares related contents of six female road running publications and six general road running. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. publications, as well as interviews road running related actors, including magazine editors, and road running organizers. The results indicate that Taiwanese female road running publications represent females with a bright, confident image, and possessing of a vivid personality and strong presence, thereby lauding a highly feminine body aesthetic. Meanwhile, these publications emphasize an appropriately muscular, lean female body, which renders a new interpretation for the word “femininity”. The ratio. i.

(3) of women’s exposure in female road running publications is significantly higher than that in general road running publications. Nevertheless, the self-empowerment of women in female road running publications compromise the traditional gender order. Besides, sporting goods manufacturers and the media enjoy an intimate relationship and co-construct female road running into a fashionable and lifestyle sport, attracting various business powers involved. Under the influence of sporting goods. 政 治 大 manufacturers, sponsors and media producers, road running has become a popular 立. ‧ 國. 學. leisure activity and a gendered practice for middle class urban women.. ‧. Nat. running actors, Taiwanese road running, lifestyle sport. n. al. Ch. engchi. ii. er. io. sit. y. Keywords: female road running, media representation, marketing strategies, road. i n U. v.

(4) Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my advisor Professor Chad Liu for his patient guidance during my thesis writing process. Also I am grateful to my committee members Professor Yu Fen, Ko and Professor Tzu Hsuan, Chen for their insightful comments and constructive advice. Thanks to IMICS, the professors, my classmates, and the department staff, I had a great time in NCCU. At last, I would like to thank my parents and my little brother, without their support, I would not make it. 這本論文的誕生要感謝很多人,第一個絕對是暖男指導,昌德老師。撇除論 文的壓力,其實每次都很期待和老師 meeting,現在回想起和老師一起討論的那 段日子,特別珍惜,老師就像個燈塔般的存在,在黑暗中指引我前進的方向,也. 政 治 大. 非常感謝口試委員,裕棻老師和子軒老師,從不同面向給予我許多信號燈,寶貴 的意見讓這本論文更加完整,謝謝老師們的鼓勵和肯定。. 立. 回首研究生歲月,在一群舊雨新知的鼓勵與幫助下,焦慮之餘還有些許美好,. ‧ 國. 學. Cheryl、撥妞、張垠、洪明辰、Singing 學姐、佳蓉、王歡、堂靖、芛薇、顥文、 品君、毛、承穎、Üli、天襟、Winnie 詠賢、黃奕凱、Ahra、豐任、松哥、Roland、 鍾治瑩、亞楠、哲玄、楚育、Emilie、Mike、Harris、王楠學姐,真的謝謝你們。. ‧. 2006 年第一次走進政大校園,心裡默默許下的願望,在十年後的 2016,同. y. Nat. 樣蟬鳴震耳的七月,順利實現了!由衷感謝在我圓夢的路上一直支持我的家人,. sit. 我最愛的媽媽、我最愛的爸爸、我最愛的鈞,謝謝你們的包容、體諒還有愛。. n. al. 和爺爺(林泰宏先生),因為有你們,才有我。. Ch. engchi. er. io. 最後,我想將這本論文,獻給我人生中兩個重要的長輩,外公(廖連祥先生). i n U. v. 民國一 O 五年七月,寫於指南路三段的家. iii.

(5) Table of Contents. ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………..i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………….iii LIST OF TABLES…………………..………………….…………………………….vi LIST OF FIGURES ………………….………………….………………….………..vii. 政 治 大 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION………………….………………………….....1 立. ‧ 國. 學. 1.1 Research Background and Motives ………………….……………………..1. ‧. 1.2 Purpose of the Research………………….………………….……….….…6. Nat. er. io. sit. y. 1.3 Thesis Structure………………….………………….……………….…….7 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW………………….……………….…...10. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2.1 Sports and Gender………………….………………….………………….10 2.2 Sporting Women: Media Representations………………….……………...14 2.3 Sports and Media: The Happiest Marriage………………….…………...19 2.4 A Brief History of Taiwan’s Road Running …………..……………………26 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODS…………......34 3.1 Research Questions………………….………………….………………...34. iv.

(6) 3.2 Methods………………….………………….………………….………...37 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND ANALYSIS …………………………....47 4.1 Female Runner’s Self-Empowerment in the Media………………....47 4.1.1 Represented Images of the Road Running Female...................50 4.1.2 Gender Power Relationships in Road Running ……………....56 4.1.3 Represented Body Aesthetic…………......................................61. 政 治 大 4.2 Shaping Taiwan’s Female Road Running Scene……………………...67 立. ‧ 國. 學. 4.2.1 Sporting Goods Manufacturers………………………………...67. ‧. 4.2.2 Sponsors…………………………………………………………......76. Nat. er. io. sit. y. 4.2.3 Female Road Running and the Media……………………….82 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………....91. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 5.1 Concluding Remarks……..………………………………………..........92 5.2 Research Limitations and Suggestions…………………………............95 REFERENCES………………….………………….………………….………..99 APPENDIX………………….………………….………………….…………...120 Appendix A: List of Interview Questions………………….…….………..120. v.

(7) List of Tables Table 1. Four stages of Taiwan road running development (1946- now) ……………33 Table 2. Sampling female road running books……………….…………………........40 Table 3. Sampling general road running books…………………………………........40 Table 4. Sampling road running magazines…….………………….…........................42 Table 5. Interviewee basic information: road running organizers.................................46. 政 治 大 Table 6. Interviewee basic information: media producer……………………….........46 立. ‧ 國. 學. Table 7. Represented female runner’s image…………………………………………56. ‧. Table 8. Frequency of female/male appearances………………………………..........57. Nat. er. io. sit. y. Table 9. Gender roles in road running publications………………………………….59 Table 10. Body aesthetic in road running publications……………………………...65. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Table 11. Purpose analysis of Nike and Mizuno in promoting female road running...71 Table 12. The way that Nike and Mizuno imagine female runners…………………..76 Table 13. Nike’s female road running sponsors category (2011-2016)………………80 Table 14. Mizuno’s female road running sponsors category (2013-2016)…………...81. vi.

(8) List of Figures Figure 1. A model of media, sports, and sponsors’ relationships………………….23 Figure 2. Female runners in general road running book…………………………….51 Figure 3. Female runner in female road running book……………………………...51 Figure 4. Graphics in general road running book…………………………………...52 Figure 5. Graphic in female road running book…………………………………….52. 政 治 大 Figure 6. A man training on the treadmill…………………………………………..60 立. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 7. A woman doing stretching on yoga mat………………………………….60. ‧. Figure 8. Mizuno’s finish line boys ………………………………………………….75. Nat. er. io. sit. y. Figure 9. Nike’s male pacers ………………………………………………………...75 Figure 10. The 25th front cover of Number Do………………………………………85. n. al. Ch. engchi. vii. i n U. v.

(9) Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Research background and motives “Have you run today?” seems to be the most popular greeting words between young people recently. Brief statistics from “Runner’s Plaza”1 show that, compared with only two marathons in 1993, the number of Taiwan road running events in 2014 reached a record-high 448. The Taiwan Road Running Association Secretary-General Chen Hua-. 政 治 大 Heng pointed out that the road running population had risen 100% within five years 立. ‧ 國. 學. and thought that it would constantly increase in the following five years (葉基 Yeh Ji,. ‧. 2013). Running is the most convenient way to exercise compared with other forms of. Nat. er. io. sit. y. exercise, as only a pair of running shoes and good body condition are needed. According to the Taiwan Sports Administration (2014), 82.4% of the total population. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. had an exercise habit, and 25.7% chose running as a major sports practice, ranking second behind walking (42.7%)2. The road running craze in Taiwan is shown by the clear double- or even triple-digit growth in the number of road running events and participants (賴香珊 Lai Hsiang-Shan, 陳妍霖 Chen Yen-Lin, 黃宏璣 Huang Hong 1. Runner Plaza, a website offers Taiwan marathon-related information. http://www.taipeimarathon.org.tw 2. 2014 Taiwan Sports Administration sports city investigation report. http://isports.sa.gov.tw/File/Main/103 年運動城市調查.pdf. 1.

(10) Chi, & 張家樂 Chang Jia-Le, 2015). Road running has become a new economic facilitator, and recent road running events have featured shorter distances compared with previous traditional marathons and been oriented around diverse themes, becoming unique events. Road running gradually formed up a formidable road running industry, which constructed another consumer loyalty. Sports commercialization has been criticized as an undesirable. 政 治 大 process, mainly controversial for depriving sports of their essence; thus, almost every 立. ‧ 國. 學. international sporting goods manufacturer now has its own women road running events. ‧. (such as Nike, Mizuno), reversing past male, basketball-oriented sports commodity. Nat. er. io. sit. y. market strategies (古硯偉 Gu Yan-Wei, 2015).. Women used to be considered a subordinate, minor group in sports but have now. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. attracted the attention of multinational sporting goods manufacturers to jump onward the bandwagon of holding female road running events and launched a series of women’s sports products, including shoes, clothes, underwear, sweat pants, and so on, to appeal more potential female customers. There were several possible reasons for this phenomenon. First the men’s sports market was already saturated, so now they wanted to target more female consumers. It has also been said that, because women have. 2.

(11) physical limitations compared with men, they deserve different genres of sports race. Or it was due to social pressure and the promotion of particular ideology, women suddenly became addicted to running. The answer was unclear. To my curiosity and interest in the new era of road running development in Taiwan, I have the idea of the current study, and also was inspired by my personal life history. Running is one of my favorite sports. I love how running brings me an energetic. 政 治 大 spirit and a healthy exercise routine, and most importantly, I enjoy accomplishing the 立. ‧ 國. 學. goal I set every time I run. It was not until 2013, when I had my first road running. ‧. experience, “Attack on Flour,” a crowd-funding fun run whose goal was to protest the. Nat. er. io. sit. y. unjust registration system of “The Color Run,” that I noticed how popular road running has become in Taiwan. However, my first road running experience was not what I. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. expected; there were fewer sports elements, and it was more like a secular carnival. First, the location could not accommodate many runners at once. In the first two kilometers, I felt like a tiny sardine, squeezed between other well-dressed sardines, and there were no place to actually “run up.” Most of the time, I could only walk. Furthermore, the powder areas were a mess and loud noise was common, but that is the true meaning of “Attack on Flour”: mimicry of The Color Run, where, when runners. 3.

(12) pass by a certain spot, colorful powders are dropped down and attach to their T-shirt, and the colorful T-shirts with sweat and powders are the best souvenirs. “Attack on Flour” was beyond my imagination of what road running should be like. This was the starting point where I began to gain more interest in observing road running in Taiwan. Another phenomenon that caught my attention was the fact that my female friends who used to avoid getting sweaty or hated exercising started to go to the gym and. 政 治 大 attended all types of road running races. They shared their road running experiences on 立. ‧ 國. 學. social media and enjoyed wearing sportswear like never before. A women’s sports. ‧. movement seemed to emerge in Taiwan via road running, and the image of the “sporty. Nat. er. io. sit. y. girl” and the value of a “good body shape” have been strengthened by the media, and the rise of social media played an important role in it. I also noticed that, with high. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. registration fees, most popular road running events were held in the city, where many agents cooperated or competed. From this point of view, road running seemed to be more than just gender but a power struggle under the political, economic structure. Therefore, whether road running in Taiwan was more than a costly form of physical exercise, appealing to people of a certain status to join, is an interesting and worthwhile topic to explore.. 4.

(13) Lately, resistance to the road running craze has emerged. In fact, road running events have been accused of causing a great deal of inconvenience in Taipei. Event organizers have been blamed for sacrificing citizens’ rights (occupying the roads and wasting police resources to direct traffic) and often causing noise and environmental pollution. The government and citizens seemed to gain nothing but provided free advertising for the organizers (盧姮倩 Lu Heng-Chian, 2014; 陳正健 Chen Cheng-. 政 治 大 Jian, 2014). At the end of 2014, Taipei city government announced a new regulation 立. ‧ 國. 學. for road running: “Taipei Road Race Events Audit Pilot Plan” (Taipei City Government,. ‧. 2014). Road running events with more than 3,000 participants would be categorized. Nat. er. io. sit. y. into three different sections: A (boulevard-lined route), B (great scenery and artistic aura route), C (riverside park and family playground route) based on the running route. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. and number of participants. The frequency of road running events was restricted, race organizers are required to file an application six months in advance, and only those that pass an audit can hold events in the city of Taipei. This regulation went into effect in 2015; therefore, we could take this new regulation as the first countermeasure taken by Taipei city government in response to the non-stop road running craze in Taipei.. 5.

(14) 1.2 Purpose of the research Why road running organizers started to hold “for females only” road race events after 2011 was my first question. From my observation, the trend of women’s road running events emerged from actions of the media, sporting goods manufacturers, and society’s atmosphere. The media promoted an image of what a confident, modern woman should look like. Instead of being thin and bony, women are willing to pursue. 政 治 大 a healthy self-image with a good body shape. People manage their bodies and see them 立. ‧ 國. 學. as an asset signifying social status to compete with others (Baudrillard, 1998).. ‧. Previous road running studies in Taiwan have emphasized body physiology (吳永. Nat. er. io. sit. y. 發 Wu Yung-Fa, 2006; 唐乾玲、湯幸芬 Tang Chien-Ling & Tang Hsing-Fen, 2014; 蔡清洲 Tsai Ching-Chou, 2007), commerce, using road running as a marketing tool for. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. company to gain a good reputation (吳孟書 Wu Meng-Shu, 2011; 李協政 Li HsiehCheng 2014; 李寵珍 Lee Chung-Chen, 2013; 林家君 Lin Chia-Chun, 2008; 林欽禮 Lin Ching-Lee, 2005; 楊宛儒 Yang Wan-Ru, 2013), and sports tourism as a new type of city tourism (張孝銘 Chang Hsiao-Ming, 2006; 張孝銘、邱姿菁 Chang HsiaoMing & Chu Zih-Jing, 2011; 曾瑞程 Tseng Ruei-Cheng, 2009). Studies that have examined the representation of women in road running are rare, and regarding sports. 6.

(15) as a symbolic significance ideology mechanism (Hall, 1985), little research has been carried out that how different road running related actors construct female road running. Given the rise in female road running, either women participate in it, or sporting goods manufacturers hold it, this represents an important gap in literature. The purpose of this study was to explore conceptually and empirically some of the possible reasons for the rise of female road running in Taiwan. By analyzing how media. 政 治 大 represented sporting women in different aspects regarding road running, and examining 立. ‧ 國. 學. the arguments made by the female road running related actors, I believe that the current. ‧. research could offer more insights on road running development in Taiwan and extend. Nat. er. io. sit. y. the findings on women’s representation in sports media. As Barthes (1998) once said, the most powerful politics is not when it is easy to be see but when it is absent, allowing. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. myths to do their work and ideologies to take charge of the privileged status. The significance of the media and female road running related actors’ impact on female road running events cannot be underestimated. 1.3 Thesis structure The current study aims to examine different actors’ roles in constructing female road running in Taiwan, mainly addressing the influence on the media and business.. 7.

(16) First, the overall background, social facts, and purpose of the study are given. Chapter two contains a relevant literature review steered by the research questions. First, it looks at sports and gender, how women have been treated outside of sports, and the development of women’s sports. Then, it examines related discourses of media representation of sportswomen, including women’s characteristics and the gender power relationship. Afterwards, I discuss the changing concept of fitness and women’s. 政 治 大 sportswear and how it relates to consumer culture. Regarding sports and capital, long 立. ‧ 國. 學. linked to each other because of their intimate relationship with the media, in the third. ‧. section of chapter two, I look at the construction of the sports/media complex and how. Nat. er. io. sit. y. it transformed from TV advertisers to sports sponsors as the main capital sources based on different sports type. The key factors that affect firms’ endorsement on women’s. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. sports are also taking into discussion. At Last, in the end of chapter two, I introduce Taiwan’s road running history since 1946; meanwhile, clarify the different stages’ features and the represented meanings. Chapter three precisely identifies two research questions: (1) how has the women’s road running been represented by the media? (2) What types of marketing strategies have road running-related actors employed to attract female consumers? Meanwhile,. 8.

(17) describes the methodology of the research, in which discourse analysis and in-depth interviews were conducted. Chapter four mainly analyzes six female road running publications and six general road running publications on women’s represented characteristics, the gender power relationship, and the body aesthetic value. After interview five road running-related actors (including road running magazine editor, road running organizer), I examine how sporting goods manufacturers have adopted. 政 治 大 different marketing strategies to attract female customer. Last, chapter five discusses 立. ‧ 國. 學. sports, media, gender, and capital, focusing on their relation with previous studies and. ‧. adding new interpretations and findings; it also addresses limiting conditions and raises. Nat. sit. n. er. io. al. y. suggestions for future research.. Ch. engchi. 9. i n U. v.

(18) Chapter Two: Literature Review 2.1 Sports and gender Sports is a terrain to show society’s values and ideologies and the best place to construct masculinity (Shilling, 2004). Rowe (2004) clearly stated that the entrenched relationship between sports and masculinity has reinforced the authority of men’s domination over sports and coverage of sports in the media. In the past, sports has. 政 治 大 reproduce gender inequity, as women were excluded from sports for a long time. The 立. ‧ 國. 學. opposition to women’s participation in sports activities was rather clear. There were. ‧. several reasons for this opposition: biologically, women were supposedly more. Nat. er. io. sit. y. vulnerable to injury than men; aesthetically, the image of women engaged in sports was not attractive; and, based on social reasons, women participating in sports was thought. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. to violate women’s natural role and social expectations (Houlihan, 2007). However, according to Coakley and Pike (2009), sports is not more appropriate for either men or women, but why do men have more power, more effectiveness, and a greater role presented than women? In ancient times, women participate in sports less than men, and in the few ethnographic studies of women’s sports experience, women were taken as the variables, not the central idea (Hargreaves, 1994).. 10.

(19) Structuralist Marxism’s major theory of social reproduction posits that “social structures inevitably ensure that the dominant culture, class and power relations are reproduced” (Hargreaves, 1994). Therefore, gender inequity within social relationships is rooted in a patriarchal social structure. Bourdieu (1984) tended to favor “capital” concept to interpret sports. He considered sports “physical capital”, highly valued for men and boys, by contrast, estimated low for women and girls. In men’s domination,. 政 治 大 based on Houlihan’s (2007) argument, women need to overcome three barriers before 立. ‧ 國. 學. entering sports field: “infrastructural barriers”, “superstructural barriers”, and. ‧. “procedural barriers”. Because all of these barriers are driven by class and gender, it is. Nat. er. io. sit. y. difficult for women to conquer the existing structure (Lafrance, 1998). However, nowadays, sports is no longer reserved for men; more sports is now. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. accessible to more women than ever before, and women can select their own sports of interest. More studies have shown that sports has become a tool for women to change their social status, combat repression, and show their individual agency while playing sports (Ifekwunigwe & Jayne, 2009; 張雅惠 Chang Ya-Hui, 2004; 陳渝苓、廖明慧 Chen Yu-Ling & Liao Min-Hui, 2009). Liberal feminism in Western countries actively promotes the legitimacy of women’s equality in sports. It rejects biological explanations. 11.

(20) of women’s unsuitability for sports, claiming that their oppression was rooted in patriarchy and centralized state power and that, if women are given the opportunity, they can play as well as men do (Hargreaves, 2004). Liberal feminism’s implications are substantial. For the first time, someone overthrew the biological determination that had been the main reason for opposition to women’s equality in sports. Feminists claimed that it was culture, not nature, that kept women from sports and that only. 政 治 大 enacted legislation to protect women’s sports right could break men’s dominance over 立. ‧ 國. 學. women (Hargreaves, 1994). However, liberal feminist scholars asked for equality but. ‧. did not explain clearly what type of equality they were looking for; blindly following. Nat. er. io. sit. y. the mainstream society’s ideology, they neglected to integrate the wider social background and overlooked the heterogeneity of “all women” (Hargreaves, 1994).. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Separatism is another issue in women’s sports, articulated by sportswomen who were frustrated and suffered serious discrimination. Separation from men gave women access to a range of sports and created their own experience of sporting femininity. Nevertheless, the “feminine-appropriate” and “masculine-appropriate” sports brought sports back to the original dichotomy between men and women, re-creating the fixed social structure. The “natural” or “biological” myth blinded people and ignored the. 12.

(21) changing feminine and masculine features with different gender relations (Hargreaves, 1994). However, from the perspective of third-wave feminism (postfeminism), which corresponded with postmodern and post-structural thoughts, they rejected the dichotomy between male/female, active/passive, dependent/independent, and so on but accepted pluralism and embraced contradiction (Hall, 2005), seeing difference as an. 政 治 大 advantage instead of unifying (Hardin, 2011). Postfeminists also suggested that 立. ‧ 國. 學. participation in sports offered opportunities for both women and men; however, at the. ‧. same time, the conditions could be mercurial: either empowering or oppressive to both. Nat. er. io. sit. y. sides (Hall, 2005) Therefore, whether women’s participation in road running in Taiwan can be regarded as empowering or oppressive needs to be studied.. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. So far, sports and gender can be narrowed down to men’s long-lasting domination over women, the revolution of women’s sports rights and breaking the divisions by class, embracing pluralism. However, women’s subordinate position in sports has been duplicated in the media as well, and women have been situated in a double subordination dilemma.. 13.

(22) 2.2 Sporting women: media representations In the late 1960s and 1970s, a man-centered media dominated the world. The media molded myth, idealized women’s bodies, and challenged women’s movements and feminists; therefore, the media became the major focus of feminist research (Gill, 2007; 倪炎元 Ni Yan-Yuan, 2003). The significance of media representation is that, like all other media, through selection, composition, and manipulation, it depicts the. 政 治 大 order and the ideology of society (Rowe, 2004). Hargreaves (1994) took magazines and 立. ‧ 國. 學. comics as examples, describing how they stood as powerful public symbols to affect. ‧. the gender roles of children’s perceptions to construct gender conception. In media texts,. Nat. er. io. sit. y. women have been underrepresented in sporting organizations and as skillful athletes (Hargreaves, 1994). However, nowadays, under the hardship and dedication of feminist. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. scholars, with more women participating in sports, the role of the media needs to be reconsidered. Does the media recreate and promote male hegemony over women or reproduce gender stereotypes? How the media presents gender, and especially women, is the core question. Around 2003, most gender and media sports studies fell into the category of television (Messner et al., 2003; Higgs et al., 2003; Rowe, 2004). Afterwards, more. 14.

(23) accumulated empirical study on sports photography expanded the problem of gender bias: sportsmen were pictured more than sportswomen, and they were given prevalently more attention than women athletes (Rowe, 2004). Similar results were found in Western countries such as the U.S.A. (Lumpkin & Williams, 1991; Duncan et al., 1991; Kane & Greendorfer, 1994), Britain (Hargreaves, 1994), New Zealand (French, 2013). Media exposure is one aspect of power in the sports media, and image representation. 立. the coverage of. 學. ‧ 國. is another. Previous studies. 政 治 大 had significant overlap regarding. sportswomen’s characteristics in the media.. ‧. (1) Sportswomen’s characteristics. Nat. er. io. sit. y. Sportswomen have been consistently trivialized and marginalized (Kane & Greendorfer, 1994). McKay noting that they reacted passively, independently, and. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. heavily relied on men both emotionally and technically (quoted in Hargreaves, 1994, p.147). Often, sportswomen’s images are full of sexualized femininity symbols and feature more domestic contexts (pregnant or with children), depicting a gender role rather than women’s athleticism (Rowe, 2004). In Theberge’s study, she pointed out that if any women’s sports was reported in detail, it only happened in the traditionally considered as showing feminine characteristics sports like gymnastics, swimming.. 15.

(24) Women rarely covered in non-traditional women’s sports like rugby, basketball, soccer (Theberge, 1991). Overall, women are continually portrayed as weak sex object, no agency existed, only traditional gender relationships. The represented sportswomen’s bodies not only solidified imbalanced gender relationships but also symbolized the importance of the “body”. The sporting body is the prime appealing instrument of sports, “embodying” wider. 政 治 大 social issues and identities, as sports images always involve sexualized, gendered, 立. ‧ 國. 學. racialized roles (Rowe, 2004). Through scientific techniques and technologies, humans. ‧. were believed to pursue a “better body,” as it resonated through different societies from. Nat. er. io. sit. y. modernity to postmodernity (Eichberg, 1998). Several studies on sportswomen pointed to the rise of the “fitness concept” and the changing meaning of women’s sportswear.. n. al. Ch. (2) Fitness and women’s sportswear. engchi. i n U. v. Fitness has long been related to militarism, anticommunism, endangered masculinity, and competitive sports (King, 2003). However, in early 1980s America, a movement known as “fitness boom,” attracted millions of middle-class men and women to become followers of a fit body. As individuals were asked to take responsibility for their bodies, fitness products pervaded the consumer market: TV fitness shows were. 16.

(25) broadcasted into living rooms, and the film industry depicted sexualized women, promoting a disciplined and slender body (King, 2003). Meanwhile, fitness publishing’s emphasis on the sexual and physical appearance of sportswomen’s bodies, drawing complaints from many feminists (Smith, 2002). The body then became “a status symbol and an emblem of one’s purchasing power, moral worth, and personal discipline” (King, 2003, p. 309). The appearance of numerous new fitness-related. 政 治 大 products on the U.S. market was not the simple reason for the fitness boom. King (2003) 立. ‧ 國. 學. proposed a novel point of view about the rise of fitness, as it was actually the neoliberal. ‧. government’s strategy. With more individuals adopting the idea of pursuing a better. Nat. er. io. sit. y. self, by encouraging them to go to the gym or consume fitness products, the government could reduce the health costs and put effort into educating the public to take self-. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. responsibility for one’s health (Ingham, 1985). Still, more evidence is to prove whether this was the actual intention of the government. Except fitness, the significance of women’s sporting bodies also involved the display of women’s sportswear. Women’s sportswear has changed dynamically since women were allowed to play sports, and it is laden with diverse social meanings (江欣惇、許光麃 Chiang Shin-Dun & Hsu Kuang-Piao, 2010). “The severe restrictions of stays, corsets and hobble skirts. 17.

(26) were being replaced by looser-fitting and lighter clothing” (Hargreaves, 1994, p. 92). Sportswear reform entailed greater freedom for women and symbolized their physical independence, expanding the number of sports items available to them. Simultaneously, it enabled women to experience the physical joy of movement, as they entered into more varied spheres of sports (Hargreaves, 1994). 江欣惇、許光麃 Chiang Shin-Dun and Hsu Kuang-Piao(2010) captured the social and cultural connotations of women’s. 政 治 大 sportswear development. They argued that women’s sportswear changes represented 立. ‧ 國. 學. the course of women pursing body autonomy, similar to Hargreaves’s (1994) viewpoint.. ‧. Different generations have unequivocal standards regarding sportswear; it stands. Nat. er. io. sit. y. for contemporary social constraints and aesthetic value judgment, and sportswear is another means of making women’s image conform to social expectations. In the modern. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. epoch, women’s sportswear is assumed to play a more significant role in gaining capital and valuing aesthetics than was previously the case (江欣惇、許光麃 Chiang ShinDun & Hsu Kuang-Piao, 2010). The media orients the clothing and athletes’ bodies, and it focuses on feminine sportswear, personal style, and a curved body shape. According to the media’s representation, beauty, a feminine temperament, and attire were the only capital that women have to compete with men’s masculinity (Hargreaves,. 18.

(27) 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. 政 治 大 bombarded with idealized images of the female shape that were almost impossible to 立. ‧ 國. 學. ignore and separate from consumer culture (Hargreaves, 1994). Reading and analyzing. ‧. media sports texts provided opportunities to reify social ideology and manipulation of. Nat. er. io. sit. y. cultural power. So far, the body presentations of sportswomen correspond to the gender inequity and the dominant heterosexuality in sports (Hargreaves, 1994), which putting. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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. 19.

(28) 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. 政 治 大 media, on the one hand, met the “uncertainty and emergent” principle of sports, 立. ‧ 國. 學. 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. Nat. er. io. sit. y. interest before an event and revitalize sporting events afterwards (Rowe, 2004). Jhally (1984) coined the term “sports/media complex” to describe the interweaving and. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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. 20.

(29) 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. 政 治 大 reliable commodity and is the crucial key to stimulate the marriage of the media and 立. ‧ 國. 學. sports (Jhally, 1984). Jhally concluded that sports’ commodification, from sports itself. ‧. to the appearance of television, created an “audience time” commodity, and further. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. and sports.. y. links to advertised commodities and solidified the combination of the media (television). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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).. 21.

(30) 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. 政 治 大 explained more with respect to the sports/media complex was participatory sports, like 立. ‧ 國. 學. road running.. ‧. (2) Sports sponsorship. Nat. er. io. sit. y. 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. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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. 22.

(31) 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 selfempowerment, and create a commodity culture in the era of globalization (Miller,. 立. Lawrence, Mckay, Rowe, 2001).. 政 治 大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Sponsors. Ch. Mediated. e nSports gchi. i n U. v. Content Media. Sports. Organizations. Organizations. 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. 23.

(32) 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. 政 治 大 sponsorship for global marathon events (方信淵等人 Fang Shin-Yuan et al., 2005). In 立. ‧ 國. 學. 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. Nat. er. io. sit. y. 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. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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 largescale 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. 24.

(33) 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. 政 治 大 other company’s behavior. Though they only compared two firms’ decision making on 立. ‧ 國. 學. 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. Nat. er. io. sit. y. 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. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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. 25.

(34) Taiwan’s road running development first. 2.4 A brief history of Taiwan’s road running “Road running” is a modern term. In ancient times, running was included in the track and field domain; it usually took place on a track, not a road, and was based on kilometer lengths and named marathon or ultramarathon. Nowadays, road running includes wider genres, such as jogging, long-distance runs, marathons, half marathons,. 政 治 大 ultramarathons, triathlons, and run ups. Distances from 200-meter children’s events to 立. ‧ 國. 學. 42.195-kilometer or more than 100-kilometer marathon adult events are available to the. ‧. public (朱立心 Chu Li-Hsin, 2013).. Nat. er. io. sit. y. Among the sporadic research focusing on Taiwanese marathons and track and field, 雷寅雄 Lei Yin-Hsiung’s (1998) Taiwan Track and Field Development is considered a. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. representative book on early Taiwan track and field. It contains many precise data, documents, and rare images from 1946 to 1973, authentically recording Taiwan’s early sports development. According to 雷寅雄 Lei Yin-Hsiung (1998), in 1946, the Taiwan Province government held the first provincial sports meet(台灣省運動會) on October 25 to celebrate Taiwan Restoration Day(光復節), and such meets were held every year for thirty years. Restricted by muddy sports fields and capricious weather, the quality. 26.

(35) of early track and field improved slowly. The men’s competitive marathon started in 1947, at the second Taiwan provincial sports meet, and it was only open to the top two athletes from each city. Women’s competitive marathon late until 1983 officially included in Taiwan province sports meeting competition events (雷寅雄 Lei YinHsiung, 1998). Similar to the case in other countries (Hargreaves, 1994), early sports development in Taiwan extoled the virtues of masculinity and sports elitism.. 政 治 大 From the 1940s to the 1970s, running events were controlled by the government. 立. ‧ 國. 學. With a clear diplomatic purpose, sports had more political meaning in constructing. ‧. nationalism and ruling legitimacy in early Taiwan sports history. 3 In 1955, the. Nat. er. io. sit. y. Republic of China Track & Field Committee(中華民國田徑協會)4 was established. In 1978, under the leadership of Chi Cheng (紀政), the Republic of China Track &. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Field Association initially arranged a four-month winter outdoor road running event to promote a countrywide atmosphere for sports running annually from November until February. As the number of road running participants gradually increased, in 1982, the quarterly cross-country events officially became “road running” events; the. 3. During the 1960s, the best-known Taiwanese athletes, the “Asian Iron Man,” Yang Chuan-Kuang (楊 傳廣), and “Asia’s Flying Antelope,” Chi Cheng(紀政), both stood out in international sports competition in the 1960 and 1968 Olympic games (雷寅雄 Lei Yin-Hsiung, 1998). 4 Now Chinese Taipei Track & Field Association. 27.

(36) government opened the whole year to hold road running events, and this paved the way for local governments to hold road running events individually (邱榮基、畢璐鑾 Chiu Rung-Chi & Bi Lu-Luan, 2005). In 1986, the Taipei International Marathon became the first marathon named after a city, standing for Taiwan road running from field to road, from suburb to city. The milestone embodied a new form of sports tourism that was encoded in the city. 政 治 大 marketing strategies to increase the marathon tourism momentum. 許績勝、許光麃、 立. ‧ 國. 學. 呂佳莉 Hsu Gi-Sheng, Hsu Kuang-Piao, and Lu Chia-Li (2013) examined the route. ‧. planning and transitions of the Taipei International Marathon. As the first city-held. Nat. er. io. sit. y. marathon in Taiwan, because of the road route length growth (from 10 kilometers5 to 42 kilometers) and urban development conflict6, the city marathon challenged the city. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. order and was considered the best city-promoting tool. It is a pity that the study was only based on route planning descriptions instead of conducting a deeper analysis of the relationship between the Taipei International Marathon and the Taipei City spectacle or image. In 2004, the Taipei International Marathon became the ING Taipei International Marathon, sponsored by the ING Capital Life Insurance Company, and. . 5. 6. From 1981-1985, a 10-kilometer mini-marathon was held every year in Taipei. During the Taipei city metro construction, it was difficult to hold a marathon in the city. 28.

(37) created many breakthroughs, appealing to great athletes from both inside and outside Taiwan to take part. It was even recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as an international credentialed event, showing the public and private sector’s co-partnership. According to 吳 孟 書 Wu Meng-Shu (2010), corporations could foster their reputation and draw consumer support by holding road running events. Thus, at this stage, the marathon was combined with tourism and. 政 治 大 sponsored by private entrepreneurs, creating a different picture compared with previous 立. ‧ 國. 學. periods. However, 郭豐州 Kuo Feng-Chou (2013) stated that, “around 2008, local road. ‧. running clubs started to hold small-scale marathons by themselves, which became a. Nat. er. io. sit. y. special characteristic of Taiwanese marathon.” Therefore, not just entrepreneurs but grassroots power was involved. Extending from the city marathon, more actors have. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. joined road running since 2011, which I regard as the “marathoneconomic period.” It was a whole new stage for road running development in Taiwan, characterized by “interesting,” “genderizing,” and “more youth people involved”. Nike launched the first female road race in 2011, and it dominated the female road running market until 2013, when two more female road races were held by Mizuno and. 29.

(38) a female website7. In 2014, Nike, Mizuno, and a non-sports company, the Chungwa Association for International Exchange of Recreational Sports (中華國際休閒運動交 流協會) initiated three other female road running events. This was the first time that road running had a gender restriction, which is my focal point in the current study. In 2013, Taiwan introduced the “Color Run” fun run, and within a couple of months, the fun run started a new fad, leading to a series of themes with diverse titles, such as the. 政 治 大 Zombie Fun Run, Hello Kitty Road Run, Red Wine Fun Run, and Run for the Earth. 立. ‧ 國. 學. From then on, road running is not purely a sports but has cosplay elements that people. ‧. enjoy, which is “interesting”. The marathoneconomic period does not have apparent. Nat. er. io. sit. y. organizers but multiple authorities (蕭涵 Shiou Han, 2014), even the crowd itself (張 家瑋 Chang Chia-Wei, 2014).. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 張烽益 Chang Fong-Yi (2015) ultimately concluded that the Taiwan road running trend that started in 2010 had apparently connecting to Taiwanese youth. In 2005, runners 40-49 years old accounted for the main percentage, while in 2014, those 30-39 years old were the biggest running group. Youth and adolescents massively joined road running and changed the original running environment. And the growing number of . 7. Baby You, a women’s website devoted to gender topics. http://www.babyou.com/opencms/?__locale=zh_TW. 30.

(39) road running participants in this period was attributed to government’s promotion and the arise of social media. The Taiwan Sports Administration promoted sports through several plans: the “Sunshine Fitting Plan,” the “Sports Population Growth Plan,” and “Build a Sports Island.” Through the efforts of the government, non-government organizations, schools, and local groups, Taiwanese people have become more aware of the importance of leisure sports and participation has gradually increased, but “fun. 政 治 大 run,” followed by the rise of the Internet generation, grew fast and became omnipresent 立. ‧ 國. 學. (葉基 Yeh Ji, 2013). Especially with the use of smart phones, message communication. ‧. has become instantaneous. 邱仕騰、蕭嘉惠 Chiu Shih-Teng and Shiou Chia-Huei. Nat. er. io. sit. y. (2014) took Color Run as an example, showing that fun runs exhibit some differentiated features from previous road running activities. For example, promotion is done via not. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. just traditional media but also through social media such as Facebook and Twitter to spread the message. Fan pages, embedded pictures, retweet, and reposts are all potent factors that announce the success of the fun run wave. Similarly, 萬年生 Wan NienSheng(2015) cited the rise of social media as one of the prime reasons that people replaced photos of restaurant delicacies with pictures in the sweltering gym or outdoors. It became apparent that road running had a spillover effect. If we analyze the. 31.

(40) popular road running events in Taiwan recently, it becomes clear that most of them were hosted by sporting goods manufacturers, and almost all of them required high entry fees, with many limited consumable products and gear. In Taiwan, not just sports related products but also food, clothing, and smartphone applications have enthusiastically been combined with sports elements ( 萬 年 生 Wan Nien-Sheng, 2015). The first runner’s restaurant, Rest & Run, which featured meals designed especially for runners. 政 治 大 and offered a shower room and cloakroom in Taipei, the popularity of athleisure 立. ‧ 國. 學. clothing, designed for athletic workouts, are all strong evidences of the spillover effect. ‧. of road running craze. However, at the end of 2014, Taipei city government first. Nat. er. io. sit. y. announced a new regulation for road running: the “Taipei Road Race Events Audit Pilot Plan” (Taipei City Government, 2014). Road running events with more than 3,000. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. participants would be categorized into three different sections: A (boulevard-lined route), B (great scenery and artistic aura route), and C (riverside park and family playground route) based on the running route and number of participants. This regulation went into effect in 2015. The frequency of road running events was restricted, we could take this new regulation as the countermeasure taken by city government in response to the non-stop road running craze in Taiwan.. 32.

(41) To sum up, the four stages of Taiwan road running development, started from 1946 till now, feature different characteristics and leading by different institutions, represented diverse social meanings (see Table 1). This study, thus, focused on the “Marathon economy” period, especially on how media and business co-constructed the female road running with different means. In the next chapter, based on the literature review, I would clarify my research questions and describe my methodology in detail,. 政 治 大 including how I collected the sampling data, selected interviewees, and my analyzed 立. ‧ 國. Table 1: Four stages of Taiwan road running development (1946- now) Taiwan province Road running City Marathon sports meeting promoting (Mid1980s-2010s) (1940s-1970s) (1970s - Mid1980s). ‧. ●Ordinariness ●Marathon form. of China ●Republicvof China a ●Republic l Track Trackn&i Field & Field C Association Association U h e n g c h i ●Taipei Road Running. n. ●Country/city government. Meaning. ●Ruling legitimacy ●Nationalism. Important institution establishment. ●Sponsorship ●Tourism marathon ●Runner clubs. sit. io. ●Elitism ●Competitive events. Leader. Marathon economy (2010s-Now). y. Nat. Features. er. Stage. 學. dimensions.. ●Sports for all citizen ●Central government decentralized. ●1955 Republic of China Track & Field committee (中華民國田徑委員會) ●1973 Renamed after Republic of China Track & Field Association (中華民國田徑協會). Association ●Country/city government ●Private entrepreneurs/ runner’s club ●Internationalized ●Private sector involved ●City spectacle, urban governance ●1988 Sports committee (體育委會) ●1994 Taipei Road Running Association (中華民國路跑協會). 33. ●Interesting ●Gendering ●More youth involved ●Taipei Road Running Association ●Country/city government ●Private entrepreneurs ●Marketing company. ●Road running capitalized ●Public self-performance ●Government re-regulation.

(42) Chapter Three: Research Questions and Method 3.1 Research questions Sports, a contemporary medium to carry many messages and show ideologies, is increasingly difficult to separate from the media (Rowe, 2004). Wenner (1989) noted that, if we want to obtain a clear overview of the media and sports in society, understanding from different perspectives is needed, including (1) the audience’s. 政 治 大 viewpoint of why they consume sports media; (2) a critical analysis the ideologies and 立. ‧ 國. 學. values of sports media content; and (3) an examination of the sports media production. ‧. complex. In the current study, I analyze the ideologies and values of sports media. Nat. er. io. sit. y. content to understand better the emergence of women’s road running events. Starting in 2011, some road running books were officially posted online.8 There. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. were more publications teaching people how to run, and some celebrities were willing to share their own running experience in the media as a form of fashion. From my observation, most road running publications were for the general public without gender limitations, but it was clear that more road running books were published for women and sports magazines aimed at female runners too. Therefore, my first research question. . 8. Lin Yi-Jie (林義傑), a Taiwanese ultramarathon athlete, published the first road running book, Run for a Simple Reason, Sharing with You Who Also Like Running.. 34.

(43) is How has female road running been represented by the media? Based on previous literature, we know that sporting women tended to be marginalized and trivialized in the media, and most of the images were not related to sports but to domestic affairs. What types of images of female road runners are represented in Taiwanese media compared with previous studies? Second, the inequality in gender power relationships was solidified by the media in previous studies; sporting women were usually portrayed. 政 治 大 as being supportive, emotional, independently relied on men by the media. Would it be 立. ‧ 國. 學. the same in the road running media context? In addition, since different generations. ‧. have their own body aesthetic value, what type of aesthetic value in terms of body shape. Nat. er. io. sit. y. and sportswear is extolled in Taiwanese road running publications?. RQ1: How has female road running been represented by the media?. n. al. Ch. engchi. 1.1 What image of sporting women does it represent?. i n U. v. 1.2 What gender power relationship does it represent? 1.3 What body aesthetic value does it represent? Since road running could hardly thrive without road running-related actors such as marketing companies, sporting goods manufacturers, and road running organizations. Based on the literature, whether women’s sports is worth invested or not, stood on the. 35.

(44) decision maker’s perception and imagination toward women’s sports, sporting women’s media representation, and whether other firms have tended to use the same marketing tool. It confirms my research directions─ identify what types of marketing strategies female road running-related actors employ to attract female consumers, further indirectly to attract sponsor’s attention, and what types of relationship did they have with female road running events.. 政 治 大 Figure 1 The model of media, sport and sponsors’ relationships (p.23) is the core 立. ‧ 國. 學. structure of my second research question. Road running magazine as media. ‧. organizations that generate female runner’s mediated sports contents for sports. Nat. er. io. sit. y. organizations and sponsors. Sports organizations like sporting goods manufacturers, Nike and Mizuno, in return, offer media organization advertisement fees. But sports. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. organizers could be sports marketing company as well and sporting goods manufacturers; however, can transform to sponsors, depends whether sporting goods manufacturers held the running events by itself or not. Lastly, sponsors could be any firms, organizations that offer financial support to female road running. Therefore, by employing in-depth interviews with road running magazine editor, sporting goods manufacturers’ directors or managers, and road running organizers, I try to find out. 36.

(45) what marketing strategies they employed for promoting female road running events, attracting female consumers, and what’s the relationship within road running actors. Consequently, my second specific research question is as follows: RQ2: What types of marketing strategies have road running-related actors (including road running magazines, organizers, and sporting goods manufacturers) employed to attract female consumers?. 立. 3.2 Methods. 政 治 大. ‧ 國. 學. The main core of the current study is women’s representation in the media,. ‧. especially with respect to road running; therefore, via discourse analysis, I investigated. Nat. er. io. sit. y. how the media constructs female images during road running, and by detailed comparison and analysis, I sought to draw conclusions beyond the discourses and the. n. al. Ch. engchi. features of road running publications.. i n U. v. However, studying road running publications alone cannot depict the whole picture of female road running in Taiwan. The appeal of road running races is apparent in its capacity to attract high-profile corporate sponsors, international corporations, and the support of government and celebrities at events across Taiwan, which means that more actors were involved. Accordingly, I followed up with in-depth interviews with. 37.

(46) road running-related actors, including a road running magazine editor, sporting goods manufacturers, and road running organizers. (1) Discourse analysis Discourse analysis has been frequently used to interpret “social artifacts” (游美惠 You Mei-Hui, 2000), which are constructed by society; therefore, it is worth using discourse analysis to answer the first research question about how road running media. 立. represents women.. 政 治 大. ‧ 國. 學. Using the keyword “road running” to search three major online bookstores (Bo-. ‧. Ke-Lai, Eslite, and Kingstone) on November 1, 2015, I found 390 books and 201. Nat. er. io. sit. y. magazines at Bo-Ke-Lai, 51 Chinese books at Eslite, and 219 books and 50 magazines at Kingstone. When I deleted the repeated or irrelevant ones 9 , there were 52 road. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. running publications, including books and magazines. To obtain a vivid picture of how media content represents women in road running publications, I compared two genres of road running publications, one for the general public and the other specifically for women, aiming to make a contrast to highlight the features of female road running publications. The books chosen for the analysis were based on their selling rank at the. . 9. For example, children books, fiction novel, marketing magazines, tour guide books, etc. 38.

(47) Bo-Ke-Lai online bookstore. There were six road running books for the general public and four women’s road running books in the top 10. Considering the publication date and content, I rejected two books. The famous runner Gin Oy had two books in the top 10; one was Travel Running! (旅跑.日本:歐陽靖寫給大家的跑步旅遊書)and the other was Run! Girls Run(歐陽靖寫給女生的跑步書:連我都能跑了,妳一定也可 以!), ranking number three. Though Travel Running! was ranked number 1, it was. 政 治 大 published recently (September 2, 2015), and compared with Run! Girls Run, it stressed 立. ‧ 國. 學. travel in Japan via participating in Japanese marathons, which made it unsuitable for. ‧. the analysis. Therefore, I chose Run! Girls Run as Gin Oy’s representative work.. Nat. er. io. sit. y. Another book, The Craziness of 51.5 Kilometers (51.5 公里的瘋狂:賈永婕的三鐵美 麗人生), was written by Taiwanese artist Chia Yung-Chieh (賈永婕). It ranked number. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. nine in sales and mainly addressed her iron girl triathlon experience. Because the topic involved more than road running, I dropped it from the analysis, leaving three road running books for the general public, three for female as the analysis samples.. 39.

(48) Table 2: Sampling female road running books Cover Title Author. Year. Publisher. Ranking (Bo-Ke-Lai). Run!Girls Run. Gin Oy. 2013. Locus Publishing. 歐陽靖. 歐陽靖寫給女 生的跑步書:連 我都能跑了,妳 一定也可以!. 大塊文化. Girls Run!. Cristina Mitre. 女生跑起來:路 跑美女雷里莎 動作示範!特別 收錄最受女生 歡迎的跑步健 康食譜!. (譯者:葉淑吟). Girl’s Running Training Protection Book. Zhan, ZhongFan, Feng, Chih-Chiu. 2015. Peace Culture. 政 治 大 2015. 詹仲凡、風之球. Start Publishing Co.. 10. ‧. 開始出版有限 公司. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 女生們的跑步 訓練防護書. Table 3: Sampling general road running books The Running Dr.Nicholas Revolution: Nomanok, How to Run Kurt Faster Brungardt (譯者:徐國 Farther and 峰、莊茗傑) Injury Free for Life. Ch. engchi. 羅曼諾夫博士 的姿勢跑法: 十堂核心課 程,根除錯誤 跑姿,跑得更 快、更遠、更 省力,一輩子 不受傷. 8. 平安文化. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 3. 40. i n U 2015. v. Faces Publishing 臉譜. 2.

(49) Technique, Conditioning, Will Power and Strength 體能!技術! 肌力!心志! 全方位的科學 化訓練. Daniel’s Running Formula,3rd Edition. Hsu,KuoFeng, Lo, YuYin. 2015. Yuan-Liou Publishing 遠流. 徐國峰,羅譽 寅. Jack Daniels. 2014. Yuan-Liou Publishing. (譯者:徐國峰). 遠流. 丹尼爾博士跑 步方程式. 政 治 大 To select magazines for the analysis, I used the keyword “running” at the Bo-Ke立. ‧ 國. 學. Lai online bookstore, obtaining 239 results. I narrowed down the context to Chinese. ‧. magazines since I focused on the Taiwan road running phenomenon, leaving only 153. y. Nat. er. io. sit. results were left. I concentrated on running magazines, not just a few pages on running topics within a magazine. Hence, Urban Runners, Running Master, Running Life(跑步. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 生活), Runnnn(跑跑步), and iRun (愛跑客) qualified as options. Regarding the number of issues, Urban Runners and Running Master both published three issues in 2014 and 2015, and iRun(愛跑客) only had one issue, too few for the sample. In contrast, Running Life( 跑 步 生 活 )and Runnnn( 跑 跑 步 )printed eleven and seven issues, respectively, enough to provide an adequate sample. Interestingly, Running Life(跑步 生活)and Runnnn(跑跑步)have two very different styles. Three issues of Running. 4. 41. 5.

(50) Life(跑步生活) stressed women-related topics, whereas the Runnnn(跑跑步)agenda was more general, providing first-hand marathon news and its articles did not have a particular gender preference. Therefore, for Running Life(跑步生活), I chose three issues (one, four, and a special issue) that addressed women’s topics, and for Runnnn(跑 跑步), I chose three bestselling issues (four, five, and six) at the Bo-Ke-Lai online bookstore for the analysis. I also aimed to compare the two magazines.. 政 治 大 Table 4: Sampling road running magazines 立 Volume. Year. Running Life. 1, 4, Special Issue. 2014. 4,5,6. 2014. ‧ 國. Title. 跑步生活. 學. Publisher Ji-Ben-Gong-shih 基本工事. ‧ y. Nat. io. Runnnn. n. al. er. 跑跑步. sit. Cover. Ch. engchi U. v ni. Dotmoremedia 達摩媒體. (2) In-depth interviews In the literature review, it became clear that the media is part of the social structure that constructs mainstream ideologies; many actors are involved in fanning the flames of female road running. Road running, as a participatory sport, has the potential to gather thousands of runners at the same time and same place, thereby generating. 42.

(51) astonishing economic scales and attracting the attention of diverse sponsors. As a result, I intend to investigate the types of marketing strategies that are employed by road running related actors: sporting goods manufacturers, road running organizers, and magazine editors. Since 2011, sporting goods manufacturers have been enthusiastically involved in holding road running races to promote their own sports products. Therefore, a trend that and New Balance.. 學. ‧ 國. began with Nike has. 政 治 大 expanded to include Mizuno, Puma, 立. Accordingly, sporting goods manufacturers are key actors in the road running industry.. ‧. This is especially the case for Nike, which created the first female-only road running. Nat. er. io. sit. y. event in Taipei. Although Mizuno was a bit late in deciding to hold women’s road running races from 2013, there is no doubt that Nike and Mizuno are the two most. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. representative sporting goods manufacturers in Taiwan’s female road running industry. Nevertheless, it has been difficult to contact sporting goods manufacturers during this research. In cases when I did manage to get into contact with them, they directly asked the marketing companies who arranged their road race events to be my interviewees. In this study, therefore, road running organizers speak in place of sporting goods manufacturers.. 43.

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