WNBA Called Out for Shunning Caitlin Clark in Promotional Image and Instead Showing Photo of a Bench Player

"The WNBA is getting repeatedly dunked on for promoting a game featuring Caitlin Clark but failing to actually use the league's biggest star in its promo ad. Instead, the league teased Clark's Indiana Fever playing the Seattle Storm on Sunday with a split picture of her teammate Raven Johnson and Seattle's Zia Cooke; the WNBA's X post also showed a promo for the Las Vegas Aces versus Atlanta Dream game that had Aces star A'Ja Wilson and Angel Reese from Atlanta. So that's four players and none of them were Clark. That seems like a PR airball if there ever was one."

"Clark remains the WNBA's main show, to a ludicrous degree. He pointed to last week's ratings on ABC, where Clark's Fever game pulled in 2.49 million viewers, while the Mercury-Aces game that aired immediately after only grabbed 1.15 million viewers. Her absence from the WNBA's promo post was noticed by a lot of X users and sports commentators on Sunday."

"Outkick reporter Bobby Burack said it was marketing suicide by the WNBA. He said the league opted to use a bench player from the Fever rather than Clark so that the league could ensure the graphic includes four black women. The WNBA is promoting a bench player for the Fever instead of Caitlin Clark to ensure the graphic includes four black women. Marketing suicide."

"Sports reporter Jason Whitlock called out the league as well, saying it was promoting the game with a bench player rather than The Reason for The Season, Caitlan Clark. They're promoting a Fever game with a Fever bench player rather than The Reason for The Season, Caitlin Clark."

WNBA promotional posts for Sunday games drew criticism for featuring players other than Caitlin Clark. The league teased an Indiana Fever matchup against the Seattle Storm using images that included Raven Johnson and Zia Cooke, while a separate promo for Las Vegas versus Atlanta included A’Ja Wilson and Angel Reese. Critics said Clark was omitted even though her Fever game on ABC drew 2.49 million viewers, compared with 1.15 million for the Mercury-Aces game that followed. Commentators labeled the omission a marketing failure and argued the league chose a bench player rather than Clark, with claims that the graphic composition drove the decision. Clark’s 2024 rookie season performance is cited as a major draw.

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