運動明星被看成是男性社會理想和美德的代表，更是年輕的男孩的模仿對象。近年來，越來越多的廣告商使用運動員來行銷自己的商品和品牌，以獲取目標觀眾的注意和認同。長期來看，運動媒體和運動員的形象一直以來被認為是加強男性霸權的強有力機構，用來建構、再現和規訓霸權性的男性氣概，不斷地告訴年輕的男性讀者什麼是社會期待的男性特徵，男人味和男性角色。本研究使用內容分析和符號學分析的方法，探討從2008年至2010年之間中國、台灣和美國最受歡迎的男性生活時尚雜誌636則廣告中的男性運動員形象與男性氣概。內容分析的結果發現，運動員不常被用來做產品的代言人。在 636 則廣告中，只有23個（3.6%）廣告的男性主角是運動員。其中 13 個人是可以辨認身份的大牌國際運動明星。這些廣告中的運動員的模特除了3個人被球迷和記者包圍外，其他人都是一個人出現。除了 5 個不知名的亞洲運動員外，其他都是西方模特（其中7個是非洲裔黑人，11個為白人）。跟其他男性氣概類型的男模特相比，他們最常展現的男性氣概是粗曠陽剛，出現在休閒運動的場景中，只用來廣告男性的保養品和運動用品。他們的目光是專注並且有目標的。他們當中不存在 Goffman（1979）所定義的“女性撫觸”（feminine touch），“退縮感”（licensed withdrawal）和“儀式性臣服”（ritualization of subordination）的動作。除了浴液和肌肉強健藥的廣告之外，沒有人故意裸露身體，所有的圖像都表現出自信和獨立的感覺。根據 Kress 和Van Leeuwen(1996)的視覺符號學變項，這些廣告都被製作成敘事性的陳述。絕大部分的運動員都被呈現為動作者（doers），身處於某個動態的過程中。他們不是在專注於他們所從事的運動，就是在跟身邊的球迷分享個人體驗，透過視線和姿勢，進行能量和方向上的聯結。大多數的運動員全身入鏡，加上仰視的攝影角度，與觀眾保持的公眾距離。高清晰度的畫面給讀者身臨其境和感官上的享受。一些半身的圖像則用來拉近與觀眾的距離，表達說同樣的產品和成就，觀眾也可以擁有。最後，這些運動員模特都出現在廣告的上方或者左方，凸顯他們代表“既定的”和“已知的”優越社會地位。

Sports celebrities have traditionally been perceived as portraying social ideals and masculine virtues, especially for young boys. Advertisers are increasingly using sports celebrity endorsements to gain attention, cue the brand personality, and intensify the convictions of the target audience. Sports media and the image of athletes have long been regarded as a powerful institution that construct, represent and reinforces hegemonic masculinity, informing the male audience what social expectation of manhood, male identity, manliness and men’s roles are. Using content analysis and semiotic analysis approaches, this study examines the representations of sports celebrities in the advertisements of men’s lifestyle magazines in Taiwan, China, and the United States to determine how sports celebrity endorsements influence the media’s representation of masculinity across cultures. The authors analyzed the content of 636 advertisements featured in the most popular male lifestyle magazines from 2008 to 2010. We found that sports celebrity endorsement and Tough and Macho masculinity is not popular even in the U.S. ads. Thirteen out of a total of 23 athletes are recognizable international sports celebrity. While three of them are surrounded by sports fans and journalists, others appeared in sole images. Most of them are western models (7 are African and 11 are Caucasians), with 5 anonymous Asian models. Compared with other male models, sports celebrity models were more likely to be portrayed in a gender-stereotyped way (e.g. Tough and Macho, in recreational and professional roles, individually, and endorsing personal-care and sports products). According to Goffman’s (1979) categories, they are never portrayed in gaze aversion, feminine touch, licensed withdrawal and ritualization of subordination. Except ads for body wash and muscle builders, none of them expose their bodies. All their images are showing power, confidence and independence. According to the semiotic categories of Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996), the athletes are mainly represented as doers in narrative process (‘going on’). They either focused in sporting or sharing personal experience with sports fans. They are indicating a line of energy in a particular direction through eye-lines or gestures. Being framed with low angle shots, most athletes are portrayed in whole bodies, maintain a public distance with the viewers. They are represented with high modality, giving the viewer a real sense. Half-sized bodies are used to shorten the distance between the athletes and the audience, ensuring that the audience can enjoy the same achievements by using the same brands of products. Finally, all the athletes are structured to appear in the top left (ideal) section of the layout, emphasizing their established and known status.