Fair Play Versus Hard Yards ...

MEDIA RELEASE

July 5, 2004

FAIR PLAY VERSUS HARD YARDS ...THE SECRET OF NZ CHAMPIONS REVEALED

New Zealand women tend to view national sporting heroes through rose-coloured glasses while Kiwi men take a no-nonsense approach to their achievements, according to a survey into the qualities of sporting champions released today.

Gillette, the world leader in men's grooming, conducted the probe into public perceptions of sporting success to launch the new fire engine red Gillette MACH3Turbo CHAMPION men's razor, the results of which showed a sharp divide between the sexes.

While men generally believed sheer hard work was the key quality of a sporting champion, women took a more idealised view, rating sportsmanship as the number one quality of their most successful sporting stars.

Gillette Business Manager, Andrea Spearman, says Gillette has a worldwide association with sporting champions such as David Beckham, Greg Murphy and George Gregan and wanted to get insight into exactly what New Zealanders thought made a champion.

"New Zealand is a nation that prides itself on sporting champions and the research results show men do indeed agree to become a champion you must put in the hard yards. Also working hard to give men a 'champion' shave is Gillette's new MACH3Turbo CHAMPION razor," said Andrea.

The younger the woman, the more she was likely to place her sporting hero on a pedestal. In the younger age group, 18 - 34 years, women believed sportsmanship was the number one defining quality of a true sporting champion (71%), followed by hard work some distance behind (61%), then came passion, perseverance (both at 53%) and raw talent (48%). Fighting spirit came in a poor fifth especially amongst single women.

Women in a relationship, notably those aged 35 - 49, rated all the qualities much closer together as facets of a champion's character, but again said fighting spirit was the least important.

Meanwhile men took a more pragmatic view, rating hard work well ahead of other champion qualities. This was especially true of younger men with almost two thirds believing perspiration and prowess went hand in hand.

Men who were in a relationship rated the reality of hard work higher than single men and when it came to the second highest-scoring champion quality - sportsmanship - 'attached' men were way ahead of their single counterparts in believing it was a critical component of a successful sporting personality.

Single men felt passion was the most important attribute, a quality which also rated more strongly with the younger age group, with 61% believing it was critical in making a sporting champion.

The Gillette MACH3Turbo CHAMPION razor delivers the closest and most comfortable shave with less irritation, even when shaving against the grain. MACH3Turbo CHAMPION combines several innovations including Anti-Friction(tm) blades, an ultra-soft protective skinguard, a new lubrication system and an improved red-hot razor handle.

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