SABC Soccer...
SABC Soccer
Date: January 1, 1970
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This advertisement is about an upcoming football match between two popular Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates which is to be played over the coming weekend. Supporters are being urged to come and watch this thriller. The advert makes use of male voice-overs to try and urge fellow supporters to attend.
This advertisement may be used to:
1. Raise discussions about sports marketing and gender.
2. Raise discussions about women in sport.
3. Demonstrate the importance of "voice" in an advertisement.
Trainer’s notes
In the Mirror on the Media Advertising research conducted by GL the male and female focus groups felt that there is a general misconception that soccer is only a men’s game. They felt that this is unfortunate especially in a country with a vibrant women’s national soccer team, Banyana Banyana. Women felt that by having men talking throughout the advert, they are excluded from the game and are not part of the target audience.
This is a good example of a gender blind advertisement in which women are being viewed as less interested in soccer. The language and context of this advertisement seems to be oblivious of the fact that women also watch soccer matches and even play soccer. The advert makes use of only male voice-overs and it seems the advert is only targeted at men. The advertisers could have struck a balance by having a female voice-over as well. During the 2006 Soccer World Cup it was reported that by targeting all their advertising at men on the assumption that they constituted most of the audience, advertisers lost a market opportunity because women in fact comprised 40 percent of the audiences!
Discussion Questions
1. To what extent are both genders interetsed in soccer ?
2. Is it important to encourage women’s participation in sport ? Why ?
Training exercises
1. Ask participants to go to a soccer match and estimate what proportion of women and men there are. Ask them to talk to women and men audiences about what they like about the game. Are they surprised by the findings?
2. Ask participants to also talk to the local soccer administration about why so much more emphasis and resources are put into men’s soccer rather than women’s soccer. What is the effect of this? What can be done to make soccer a more woman friendly game? What are the business advantages?
3. Tape the advertisements broadcast during a televised soccer match. What gender are they targetting ? What kinds of products are being marketed?
4. Research organisations that enourage women in sport and women who are particpating in sports often considered the domain of men. Write a short article about this.
Related GL Commentaries
Download : GB soccer sa 0407
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