Robert Sparks
Biographic Data
| ID | 3886524 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert Sparks |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert |
| FAMILY NAME | Sparks |
| SIGNATURE | SPARKS R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of British Columbia |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 51 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Responsible drinking' programs and the alcohol industry in Brazil
Female Youths' Perceptions of Smoking in Popular Films
In this study, the authors used focus group interviews to explore how female adolescents in a Canadian high school interpreted and used tobacco imagery in films in their daily lives. Findings from interviews with 20 smokers led them to argue that smoking scenes in films might stimulate youth smoking and that cigarettes are an important symbol in youth peer groups with explicit social meanings and functions. Their analysis of interviews with 17 no…
Convergence, Corporate Restructuring, and Canadian Online News, 2000-2003
This paper critically examines the corporate restructurings that took place in the Canadian news industry in 2000, using findings from website analyses in 2001 and 2003 that assessed the impact of the changes on the provision of online news. The paper shows that despite their stated commitment to convergence, the restructured companies only selectively exploited the interactive potential of the Web, and that they tended to operate under tradition…
Inside the Promotional Vortex
When Canadian Simon Whitfield won the gold medal in the first ever Olympic Men's Triathlon at the 2000 Sydney Games, the Canadian media labeled him an 'Olympic champion' and 'golden boy' and constructed his victory as 'heroic' and emblematic of Canadian character. Positive media attention led to several sponsorship contracts which in turn led to more media coverage about his success, with the result that Whitfield became a media celebrity and pro…
Intertextuality, Tobacco Sponsorship of Sports, and Adolescent Male Smoking Culture
Intertextuality, Tobacco Sponsorship of Sports, and Adolescent Male Smoking Culture
This article uses the concept of intertextuality (Kristeva, 1984) to analyze the sport sponsorship strategies of tobacco manufacturers in Canada; it is based on evidence taken from tobacco industry documents that were publicly accessible from Canadian and U.S. court proceedings. Through commissioned research on adolescent male smoking, the industry has endeavored to isolate those groups most likely to start smoking; then, it has sought to reach a…
It’s Gotta Be the Shoes”
This paper examines the impacts of athletic-apparel commercial messages on youth and youth cultures. Sneaker companies routinely use celebrity Black athletes, like Michael Jordan, to help position and market their premium brands. While concerns have been raised over the potential negative impacts of this practice, the processes through which athletic-apparel commercials become interpreted and assimilated into youth cultures have not been well-res…
Delivering the Male”
The Sports Network (TSN) is a 24-hour all-sports specialty programming service that is widely distributed in the Canadian cable television system. In eight years of operation, TSN has achieved significant financial success following a pragmatic market plan conceived in the face of the technological, regulatory, and market conditions of sports and Canadian broadcasting in the early 1980s. This paper examines critically the market strategy of TSN i…
Social Practice, the Bodily Professions and the State
The relationship between sport and the modern state has been a focus of increased theoretical attention in recent years, particularly with respect to the role of sport in hegemony. At the same time there has been mounting interest in the significance of the body and bodily practices (including sports) as a site of political struggle. Yet, not much work has been done on the connection between these two projects. A monograph written in French and p…
Ways of Seeing Differently
Although it is apparent that conceptual reconciliation between the critical frameworks of sport and leisure studies would enable more strategic and innovative work, this paper argues that the complexity of this undertaking should not be underestimated. Several shortcomings in Deem’s analysis of theoretical integration are traced out, and a basis is struck for critically analyzing work in leisure and sports studies generally. Finally, Deem’s conce…
Knowledge Structures in Sport and Physical Education
The structure of knowledge and its relation to social structure remain acute issues in the study of sport and physical education. This paper argues against common conceptions of knowledge that have resulted from positivist and rationalist tendencies in these fields. The position is set forth that knowledge is a constitutive human practice that tends to produce and reproduce the meanings, values, and structural realities of the social world in whi…
It’s Gotta Be the Shoes”
This paper examines the impacts of athletic-apparel commercial messages on youth and youth cultures. Sneaker companies routinely use celebrity Black athletes, like Michael Jordan, to help position and market their premium brands. While concerns have been raised over the potential negative impacts of this practice, the processes through which athletic-apparel commercials become interpreted and assimilated into youth cultures have not been well-res…
Inside the Promotional Vortex
When Canadian Simon Whitfield won the gold medal in the first ever Olympic Men's Triathlon at the 2000 Sydney Games, the Canadian media labeled him an 'Olympic champion' and 'golden boy' and constructed his victory as 'heroic' and emblematic of Canadian character. Positive media attention led to several sponsorship contracts which in turn led to more media coverage about his success, with the result that Whitfield became a media celebrity and pro…
Responsible drinking' programs and the alcohol industry in Brazil
Intertextuality, Tobacco Sponsorship of Sports, and Adolescent Male Smoking Culture
This article uses the concept of intertextuality (Kristeva, 1984) to analyze the sport sponsorship strategies of tobacco manufacturers in Canada; it is based on evidence taken from tobacco industry documents that were publicly accessible from Canadian and U.S. court proceedings. Through commissioned research on adolescent male smoking, the industry has endeavored to isolate those groups most likely to start smoking; then, it has sought to reach a…
Ways of Seeing Differently
Although it is apparent that conceptual reconciliation between the critical frameworks of sport and leisure studies would enable more strategic and innovative work, this paper argues that the complexity of this undertaking should not be underestimated. Several shortcomings in Deem’s analysis of theoretical integration are traced out, and a basis is struck for critically analyzing work in leisure and sports studies generally. Finally, Deem’s conce…
Female Youths' Perceptions of Smoking in Popular Films
In this study, the authors used focus group interviews to explore how female adolescents in a Canadian high school interpreted and used tobacco imagery in films in their daily lives. Findings from interviews with 20 smokers led them to argue that smoking scenes in films might stimulate youth smoking and that cigarettes are an important symbol in youth peer groups with explicit social meanings and functions. Their analysis of interviews with 17 no…
Social Practice, the Bodily Professions and the State
The relationship between sport and the modern state has been a focus of increased theoretical attention in recent years, particularly with respect to the role of sport in hegemony. At the same time there has been mounting interest in the significance of the body and bodily practices (including sports) as a site of political struggle. Yet, not much work has been done on the connection between these two projects. A monograph written in French and p…
Knowledge Structures in Sport and Physical Education
The structure of knowledge and its relation to social structure remain acute issues in the study of sport and physical education. This paper argues against common conceptions of knowledge that have resulted from positivist and rationalist tendencies in these fields. The position is set forth that knowledge is a constitutive human practice that tends to produce and reproduce the meanings, values, and structural realities of the social world in whi…
Knowledge Structures in Sport and Physical Education
The structure of knowledge and its relation to social structure remain acute issues in the study of sport and physical education. This paper argues against common conceptions of knowledge that have resulted from positivist and rationalist tendencies in these fields. The position is set forth that knowledge is a constitutive human practice that tends to produce and reproduce the meanings, values, and structural realities of the social world in whi…
Ways of Seeing Differently
Although it is apparent that conceptual reconciliation between the critical frameworks of sport and leisure studies would enable more strategic and innovative work, this paper argues that the complexity of this undertaking should not be underestimated. Several shortcomings in Deem’s analysis of theoretical integration are traced out, and a basis is struck for critically analyzing work in leisure and sports studies generally. Finally, Deem’s conce…
Social Practice, the Bodily Professions and the State
The relationship between sport and the modern state has been a focus of increased theoretical attention in recent years, particularly with respect to the role of sport in hegemony. At the same time there has been mounting interest in the significance of the body and bodily practices (including sports) as a site of political struggle. Yet, not much work has been done on the connection between these two projects. A monograph written in French and p…
Delivering the Male”
The Sports Network (TSN) is a 24-hour all-sports specialty programming service that is widely distributed in the Canadian cable television system. In eight years of operation, TSN has achieved significant financial success following a pragmatic market plan conceived in the face of the technological, regulatory, and market conditions of sports and Canadian broadcasting in the early 1980s. This paper examines critically the market strategy of TSN i…
It’s Gotta Be the Shoes”
This paper examines the impacts of athletic-apparel commercial messages on youth and youth cultures. Sneaker companies routinely use celebrity Black athletes, like Michael Jordan, to help position and market their premium brands. While concerns have been raised over the potential negative impacts of this practice, the processes through which athletic-apparel commercials become interpreted and assimilated into youth cultures have not been well-res…
Intertextuality, Tobacco Sponsorship of Sports, and Adolescent Male Smoking Culture
Intertextuality, Tobacco Sponsorship of Sports, and Adolescent Male Smoking Culture
This article uses the concept of intertextuality (Kristeva, 1984) to analyze the sport sponsorship strategies of tobacco manufacturers in Canada; it is based on evidence taken from tobacco industry documents that were publicly accessible from Canadian and U.S. court proceedings. Through commissioned research on adolescent male smoking, the industry has endeavored to isolate those groups most likely to start smoking; then, it has sought to reach a…
Inside the Promotional Vortex
When Canadian Simon Whitfield won the gold medal in the first ever Olympic Men's Triathlon at the 2000 Sydney Games, the Canadian media labeled him an 'Olympic champion' and 'golden boy' and constructed his victory as 'heroic' and emblematic of Canadian character. Positive media attention led to several sponsorship contracts which in turn led to more media coverage about his success, with the result that Whitfield became a media celebrity and pro…
Convergence, Corporate Restructuring, and Canadian Online News, 2000-2003
This paper critically examines the corporate restructurings that took place in the Canadian news industry in 2000, using findings from website analyses in 2001 and 2003 that assessed the impact of the changes on the provision of online news. The paper shows that despite their stated commitment to convergence, the restructured companies only selectively exploited the interactive potential of the Web, and that they tended to operate under tradition…
Female Youths' Perceptions of Smoking in Popular Films
In this study, the authors used focus group interviews to explore how female adolescents in a Canadian high school interpreted and used tobacco imagery in films in their daily lives. Findings from interviews with 20 smokers led them to argue that smoking scenes in films might stimulate youth smoking and that cigarettes are an important symbol in youth peer groups with explicit social meanings and functions. Their analysis of interviews with 17 no…
Responsible drinking' programs and the alcohol industry in Brazil
Political science (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Advertising (7 works) · Business (7 works) · Sports, Gender, and Society (7 works) · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts (5 works) · Media Studies and Communication (4 works) · Psychology (4 works) · Art (3 works) · Epistemology (3 works)