To Airbrush or Not?: Theoretical and Practical Applications of Athletes, Tattoos, and the Media

Mediated visual representations of athletes offer interpreted renderings of social norms, which can dictate social scripts of appearance and social status that encourage compliance or risk social shunning. Concurrently, tattooing has broadened in social acceptance, yet not among all social groups, while readily available photo altering software has led to a social outcry for “authenticity” in human visual portrayals. Such converging dichotomies are the crux of this case study of six athletes’ tattoo portrayals, or lack thereof, in visual media. Social comparison theory offers a foundation to demonstrate ways visual social norms continue to exert pressure on mediated representation; this study suggests a movement toward authenticity of self in an increasingly manicured, visually mediated human appearance.