Sporting chancers: Three Canadian corporations’ representations of sport-for-youth-development

Abstract

In this article, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of three Canadian corporations that used sport-for-youth-development (SYD) to fulfill part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR). Although the use of SYD has become an increasingly larger component of corporations’ CSR, there is a dearth of scholarship examining advertising texts produced by corporations, particularly by corporations other than Nike. This article directly addresses this lack, contributing to the growing body of critical examinations of corporate presentations of SYD in the Canadian context. We examined four televised commercials to describe the discursive strategies used by the corporations to authorize a particular notion of SYD. Specifically, we examined how the semiotic choices in the commercials signified key discourses related to SYD and how these elements were used to attempt to educate viewers on specific truths about childhood and youth sport. We were also interested in the underlying assumptions of these constructions and the power relationships underpinning them. Analysis of the three corporations’ texts revealed stark contradictions, difficulties, and tensions in their uses of SYD in televised commercials. We found that although the commercials presented some positive constructions of SYD, we argue that they predominantly produce and rely on several dominant discourses about youth sport, including: sport is a place of universal inclusivity, and sport has inherently “magical” qualities capable of providing all young people with contexts for positive youth development. We further argue that these CSR campaigns mirror the values of Canadian nationalism and construct SYD in a limited individualistic, consumerist manner that closely aligns with the ideologies of neoliberalism. These findings are important for researchers, educators, and SYD program developers, and we encourage other researchers to examine SYD in corporations’ CSR campaigns.