The Westfield W-League's branding this year has left many women wondering what type of message the FFA is trying to send out about women's football, but when it comes to glamour and women's sport, it can be hard to know where to draw the line.

Lowe point for women's football?

Advertising agency Lowe created the campaign "Football with Style", which, in their own words, "mixes the grace and athleticism of women’s soccer with the glamour more often associated with the worlds of music, film and fashion."

It's clear that the agency are working hard to strike a balance between making the W-League a sexy advertising proposition and not demeaning the athleticism of the women involved, but in this case I think they might have missed the mark slightly.

Photoshop fiction?

Lowe describe the imagery as "high-energy" but I found it disappointing that so much, ahem, energy seems to have gone into photoshopping the girls. The ludicrous thing about the bleached and pearlescent skin on show is that these girls are all really beautiful without any need for this kind of post-production work.

Research conducted by the FFA has shown that women and especially young girls are drawn towards the more glamorous looks of the fashion and music worlds so it's not that this campaign wasn't researched. The problem is that it goes too far and ends up promoting an unhealthy and unrealistic ideal of female sporting beauty.

What's wrong with images like this to promote women's football?

What do you think about the "Football with Style" campaign?

I agree Scott. I think glamour is good but this is too artificial for me...why dont you set up a poll amongst the W-League fans and sports followers

Andy

I would beg to differ with both andy and britgirl. I think that they look fantastic! Maybe it is slightly over glamourised but if that's what it takes to get more girls actively interested in women's football, then why should anyone complain? Besides a common complaint about sport is that it is too blokey. This ad campaign is clearly not. I think it appeals to women from a glamour, fashion, body image angle and to men from a sex appeal, atleticism angle. It has appeal for all. The only group i see that has been neglected is children, specifically boys. they dont give two hoots about sex appeal, fashion or glamour and won't look up to them in the way a little girl might. So an interesting question would be what would appeal to boys in women's football? is that a target market that needs to be worried about at all?