Gender inequality in sports endorsement; Identifying the obstacles to the presence of Iranian female athletes in sports advertisements

The present research was conducted with the aim of identifying the obstacles to the presence of Iranian female athletes in sports advertisements. The current research was a qualitative-quantitative type of research. The statistical population of this research included elite female athletes, 17 of them collaborated with the researcher and formed the Delphi panel of the research. In this research, the Fuzzy Delphi method was used to identify the obstacles to the presence of Iranian female athletes in sports advertisements. According to the Delphi panel, the following factors were identified as valid barriers to the presence of Iranian female athletes in sports advertisements: inequality in the media coverage of women's sports, incompatibility with some products, traditional attitudes towards women, the male-dominated cultural structure of the country's sports, Lack of self-awareness in female athletes, religious prejudices, limited coverage of women in advertisements, greater popularity of male athletes. Fuzzy hierarchical decision-making method (FAHP) was used in order to prioritize the effective factors on co-branding. According to the obtained results, religious prejudices are the most important obstacle to the presence of Iranian sportswomen in sports advertising as a validator, followed by the male-dominated cultural structure of the country's sports, the traditional attitude towards women, and inequality in the media coverage of women's sports. They are in the second to fourth ranks. Therefore, it can be concluded from the results that female heroes can work in marketing and introducing brands, and this work is only possible by changing the biased and traditional view of women.