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Drivers to divasRESEARCH PAPERDanica and the changing imageof female driversGuthrie, St. James and the majority of Fisher’sprogramme advertising depictions prior to 2003featured the drivers as strong and athletic, controllingtheir own movements, with their photographs shotfrom straight, even planes (Cuneen et al, 2007) withonly Fisher’s Tag Heuer advertisement venturing closeto being sexually suggestive. However, a new era infemale drivers’ advertising portrayals arrived withDanica Patrick in the early 2000s. In 25 years ofofficial Indy programmes, between 1979 (Guthrie’srookie race) and 2003, only eight advertisementsfeatured women drivers: Guthrie (N = 3), St. James,(N = 3) and Fisher (N = 2). After Patrick’s 2005rookie performance, where she took the speedway,racing world and media by storm, the 2006 Indyprogramme contained 10 ads featuring a female driver– all were of Patrick. She endorsed products thatwould be expected of a racer, such as Firestone tyres,Run-Rite car care maintenance products and Peakantifreeze, as well as non-racing products such asTissot watches and Secret antiperspirant. However,while Guthrie, St. James and most of Fisher’s raceandnon-race related ad portrayals featured them as‘drivers first’ without objectifying them as females,Patrick’s portrayals in 40% of the 2006 Indyprogramme ads featured her in sexually suggestiveportrayals (Cuneen et al, 2007).Currently, Danica Patrick and her marketing teamcontinue to present her in campaigns that focus on atraditionally feminine appearance, but with a twist.Not only is Patrick’s attractiveness highlighted, hercompetence in the masculine environment of the IndyRacing League is also emphasised. In a recentadvertisement for Motorola, with whom she has athree-year, $21 million sponsorship agreement (Miller,2006), Patrick is standing, facing the camera, avertical line splitting her into two distinct images. Herright side is clad in a shiny blue and black racing suit,a helmet covering half her face, with the ‘MOTO’ ofthe Motorola logo visible. The left side of Patrick’shead shows her with her hair styled away from herface, wearing makeup, with a seductive gaze on herface. In this half of the image, Patrick is clad in anevening gown. The material is silver satin, and thecut, while not revealing, is significantly lower than thecut on the racing suit. Patrick’s arms are hanging ather sides in both halves of the image. The racing suitarm and hand is gloved, while her other hand has anextremely large diamond ring. On the half of the adfocusing on Patrick’s feminine appearance, rather thanwearing a large earring with her elegant gown, asmight be expected, her earring is small and she issporting a Bluetooth on her ear, one of Motorola’ssignature products. Patrick is clearly portraying twodistinct images; one, a competent athlete in her sport,and the other, a traditional feminine image (with aBluetooth device on her ear).At present, Patrick seems comfortable withportraying images that emphasise her femininity andgood looks as well as relishing in the opportunity toemphasise her skill as an Indy driver. It was in a 19March 2003 article in USA Today that Patrick spoke ofthe images she felt were necessary for her to constructto promote herself and her sport. She defendedprovocative publicity photos and a spread in FHM (ForHim Magazine). Addressing her image based on sexappeal, Patrick shared: “Eventually I hope to lose it,but I’m going to use it to my full advantage, just likeanybody else would who has a niche… At the end ofthe day, when I take the helmet off, I’m still a girl”(Fogarty, 2003, p.13c).In an attempt to move Patrick away from these earlyimages she developed, Players Group, one of hermarketing consultants, designed its promotionalstrategy to focus on her as a driver and successfulperformer. Their plan was to avoid deals emphasisingPatrick’s femininity in favour of deals highlighting herathleticism. Ratto (2005) contended that Patrickneeded wins on the track in order for the strategy topay off and keep her from falling into the trapassociated with Anna Kournikova, the now-retired210 International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship ● APRIL 2009 ●