Are athletes still expected to be role models? For as long as I can remember, we have always assumed that athletes conduct themselves in healthy, positive ways, including making good decisions and modeling pro-social behaviors. Fair or not, sports teams have publicly promoted their players (be it for fan support, increased team revenues, or other reasons), and many parents have encouraged their children to become fans of certain players they see as role models. In fact, a famous Gatorade commercial literally told us to “Be like Mike” and model Michael Jordan and his choice to drink Gatorade! Michael Jordan is not the only famous athlete seen as a role model and used to pitch products, as countless athletes have been used in similar ways to gain attention and sell products. Should we continue to expect athletes to be role models, or have we moved on to a new time, where we see athletes more as everyday people — like us — who do not always make the right choices, and sometimes make mistakes?
Should athletes be role models for kids?
Elite athletes, including Olympic, professional, and collegiate athletes, receive a lot of attention simply because of what they do. We love sports, and we often place athletes on pedestal because of the level of athletic success they achieve. Corporations try to capitalize by hiring athletes to promote their products, and schools and universities like to use visible athletes to generate local excitement, promote positive things in the community, or help out with other important issues. Talented athletes receive recognition and related opportunities because of their athletic ability, not because they were academic all stars, or successful in anything other than sports. Score points, generate fan excitement, receive lucrative sponsorship deals — it’s the way we have done things for a long time. Elite athletes are incentivized to be role models, in part, for their own fiscal advantages, but is it fair to extend these expectations to the kids in your local school and community? In other words, should we expect athletes to serve as role models, even when there are no advertising deals or other ways to financially profit? Like, should we expect them to be role models simply because they should be role models?!
The great Charles Barkley offered a different view about being a role model in his controversial 1993 Nike ad where he candidly spoke about not being a role model, offering a reset on previous assumptions relating to athlete expectations:
It’s been 31 years since Barkley spoke out about athletes as role models, but how much have things changed since then? As Barkley stated, he’s not paid to be a role model, hes paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. He also reminded us that parents should be role models, something I think most people believe. Barkley’s words were very eye opening in 1993, mostly because he was already a very controversial sports figure, but also because up to that moment it was generally agreed that athletes are role models — hard stop. To step outside of the athlete/role model expectation was unheard of at the time, but even if you asked people back then why we would have such an expectation of athletes (who did not sign up for being a role model — ala Barkley), no one could answer that question. It just was that way.
So here we are today in 2024, in an era of social media, legalized gambling, medical & recreational marijuana, amateur athletes (i.e. college student athletes) who can be paid, and countless more changes since 1993. Should we still expect athletes to be role models? If so, why? And if an athlete achieves fame and fortune for scoring touchdowns or scoring baskets, is it fair to also expect that person to do things that he or she never signed up to do? Being a really good basketball player, for example, has nothing to do with selling products effectively, or heading up a volunteer community event. Of course, we love when visible athletes donate their time and help with a cause, but should we expect that they do these kinds of things?
Final thoughts
Not all athletes want to be role models, pushing the question of whether we should continue to have such hopes? While being a role model is great, holding athletes to a higher standard may be worth revisiting today, especially as increasingly more athletes are “caught” on video or social media doing things that aren’t role model-like behaviors. Is it time to let athletes like Charles Barkley off the hook, and instead point toward parents as being the ultimate role models for kids? Or should we continue to hold athletes at a higher level of accountability when it comes to role modeling and pro-social behaviors?
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