Graduation Date
1997
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Other
Program
Arts
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Elizabeth Watson
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Carol Miller
Third Committee Member Name
Dr. Linda A. Parker
Keywords
Art
Subject Categories
Art
Abstract
The modem sport spectacle is a phenomenon with complex and intricate ties to the consumer culture and systems of self expression based on the consumption and subsequent displays of commodities and their sign values, the images advertisers couple with commodities. Perceptions of sport subcultures, as well as of sport itself, are intricately connected to the images and significations utilized by the advertising media to market commodities. This inquiry explores this relationship by incorporating postmodern interpretations of the mass media and the systems of commodity circulation and self expression facilitated by the consumer culture as they influence and are influenced by sport. In recognition of the increasingly segmented audiences, this study incorporated a content analysis that analyzed the use of basketball in advertisements in Sport Illustrated from 1980 - 1996. The analysis revealed that depictions of the sport in these ads are primarily of young black and white males, portrayals that marginalized other ethnicities and women and relegated their appearances to images that lay outside the norm for the majority of the ads analyzed. In light of the theoretical perspectives proposed, the data supports the hypothesis that future inquiries have much to gain from considerations of postmodern insights into media culture.
Recommended Citation
Eisenhauer, Brian W., "Just Use It: The Consumer Culture, Advertising, and Basketball" (1997). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2421.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2421