Gender and the Athlete: Comparing the Brand Images of Male and Female Athletes

There is a disparity in payment to female athletes compared to male athletes for activities related to their brand. Research has been done to understand how to identify an athlete’s brand image and the barriers female athletes currently face as they attempt to build their brands. This study aimed to investigate the difference in how consumers perceived the brand image of male and female athletes. A survey was utilized to encourage participants to evaluate fictional athletes according to several adjectives and then compare them to prominent company brands. The results indicated that female college athletes were considered to be more unique and more similar to Apple than the male college athletes. However, the adjusted alpha level meant those results were no longer statistically significant. As a result, there was no evidence to suggest a difference in the brand image of the male athletes compared to the female athletes.