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Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific
Agile Big Man: The Flexible Marketing of Yao Ming
By Thomas Oates and Judy Polumbaum
Abstract
This article examines National Basketball Association player Yao Ming's complex global celebrity, analyzing how diverse constituencies in the U.S. and China contribute to constructions and readings of his public image. As sportsman, corporate pitchman and cultural emissary, Yao has proven an extraordinarily adaptable figure; among his varied roles, he represents an exemplary vehicle for the NBA's global designs, a well-behaved alternative to the bad-boy stereotype of the African American athlete, an expression of ethnic empowerment and masculinity that contradicts typifications of Asian males as effeminate and weak, and an embodiment of Chinese national pride. In short, Yao's career illustrates a new model of global sporting stardom, incorporating notions of "flexible citizenship" and "flexible celebrity" suiting the transnational marketplace of the 21st century.