The Los Angeles Sparks social media team is under fire for their choice of image for a gameday graphic that has since gone viral by fans who think it attracts all the wrong attention.
Before last night’s game against the Seattle Storm, the team put out a graphic with gameday information and where fans could watch the game.
Accompanying this information was a picture of Sparks rookie Sarah Ashlee Barker, the ninth overall pick of this year’s draft out of the University of Alabama.
But rather than an image of Barker in a Sparks jersey, she was seen pointing at the camera while spinning a basketball on her finger. However, fans were upset by the attire Barker was wearing – a simple black tie-off top more akin to a bikini top than anything else.
The graphic differentiated from team’s last two graphics for their road games – which showed players in their uniforms.
But, this does follow a trend that the Sparks have had for their home games – which show players in more casual and stylish clothing rather than jerseys.
The Los Angeles Sparks are under fire for a gameday promo involving Sarah Ashlee Barker (13)
The team posted this graphic featuring this photo of Barker in a casual bikini-style top
Fans on social media berated the Sparks front office for their ‘thirst trap’ promotion
Nevertheless, the team’s social media account was inundated with abuse over Barker’s clothing.
‘These gameday posts frying me. No unis or nothing, just thirst traps,’ wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
Another user said, ‘Real s**t women used to fight so hard to avoid exactly this.’
‘Every time they do a graphic like this they get dragged but they keep doing it???,’ a third user posted.
‘This s**t needs to go, right now. Not “don’t do this again in the future” I mean press the delete button, right now,’ another user demanded. ‘What kind of chance does women’s sports have if this is OFFICIAL team communication??? Are they playing in lingerie? Then put them in the fkn jerseys on gameday.’
One user posted, ‘I am gonna say this with as much respect as I can. If the WNBA wants to be taken seriously as a professional sports league, teams cannot use photos like this in their marketing. The Lakers aren’t sharing shirtless Austin Reaves photos with their game info.’
Neither the Sparks or Barker have publicly addressed the backlash, but Barker did re-post the image on her Instagram story.
As for the game, the struggling Sparks fell 98-67 to the Storm while Barker dropped 12 points and seven rebounds.
