What Are The Pros And Cons Of Athlete Endorsements

With the cost of celebrity endorsement deals reaching astronomical highs, one has to address the effectiveness of such

The ethos appeal is present in the Michael Jordan, LT and Polamalu commercials the most. In the Everything’s an argument textbook, it says, “We tend to accept arguments from those we trust, and we trust them in good part because of their reputations. Three main elements – trustworthiness/credibility, authority, and unselfish or clear motive – add up to ethos” (45). Of course, Nike wouldn’t use any one that had some trouble or were untrustworthy to represent their company. They know better than to include Sammy Sosa and Ray Rice to be representatives; however, someone like Michael Jordan is a great choice because of the influence he has had on many people. Michael Jordan is a role model to many; whereas, Sammy Sosa should not be one because of the illegal actions during his baseball career. He was “unaware” of the fact that he had used a corked bat during a game. Even though all his bats were tested and came back clean, Slammin’ Sammy had jeopardized much of his success from the past. Nike keeps a strong ethos by partnering themselves with famous athletes that everyone has at least heard of. Famous athletes increase their credibility because of the belief that if those athletes use their products then the product must be superior to its competitors. It proves that Nike is a high quality brand. By using famous athletes in their commercials, Nike shows that their products are not just

“People are more likely to pay attention to a TV commercial if one of their favorite players is talking, than they would be if the owner of the company was the star” (Miller). It is the association with the known and likeable character which may attract people to follow celebrity endorsements. It may also be the association with success which the athlete is characterizing. Whatever the case may be, Miller gives tips of what marketing companies look for before persuading a player with an endorsement:

Companies are very selective when choosing a celebrity to endorse their product because they know the person is a great candidate for them to sell their product to the consumers. Before the company signs on the celebrities to endorse their brands, the companies need to make sure that these celebrities meet three basic qualifications.

Nike, Inc. sought professional athletes to endorse their athletic shoes and in 1985 contracted with Michael Jordan. Michael's success in sports and his endorsement of a personalized Nike brand brought in over $100 million in the first year (Kotler & Keller, 2009). Nike has continued to market successfully with their "Just Do it" campaign and their targeting women athletes.

more than sell the product. The athlete actually becomes a ‘human brand’ in his or her own right.”

Here are many athletes that get sponsored by many brands like Nike,Under Armour, and Adidas. Those three brands are the main brands that sponsor athletes in sports. It is estimated that Nike makes 11 million dollars a year off of star athlete Lebron James. The brand Adidas offered basketball player James Harden 200 million dollars in an attempt to steal James from Nike. Adidas ended up adding James to their multi-billion dollar team. Every brand has a cover star. Some athletes are fortunate enough to have their own brand like the legend Michael Jordan. As you can see companies pay their athletes, but some companies sponsor sports

To this present day athletes are getting paid with the higher wages and as an athlete you get to enjoy what life really is. Most all-popular athletes make more than millions of dollars when people are working hard building houses and they don't get half of what they make in 3 years (Bhagat). However, these people had to build up steps to get where they are today. Nothing is free and in this world to succeed is to work. Also, athletes are bringing communities together, opening up jobs for people in need, and are world wide famous. Being worldwide famous is very important for dragging someone in for something. Making advertisements consisting of famous athletes will bring them more fame and attraction into it. It is very hard to build up to become one of the most famous players. They have to work hard by excising every day, staying in fit, and are always moving. This is why the amount of money

According to MarketWatch.com (2011), “...studies show that people are more likely to purchase an item if it has come into contact with an attractive person.” This finding coupled with the already controversial topic of whether a journalist should endorse a commercial product for a stipend, raises some interesting concerns. Furthermore, does accepting these endorsements pose a threat to journalism and its ethics and constitute a conflict of interest [as to whether any journalist should endorse a commercial product]? Case in point, Reebok’s hiring of Erin Andrews, ESPN reporter and voted Playboy magazine’s sexiest reporter, to endorse a new line of shoes “Zoom Alpha Talon Cleat” has done just that. Those on the sidelines-as well as those who rival the endorsed product- can attest to this struggle. Is it acceptable for sports reporters, like Erin Andrews, to accept endorsement deals

The use of specific athletes in marketing campaigns really began to show promise when athletes like Jordan began wearing their own brands of shoes. The idea to consumers or fans of the NBA that they could wear the same shoes as Michael Jordan, and somehow play like him was an easy sell by Nike. Today it is now common for marketable athletes in almost all sports to wear their own style of shoes, spikes, or skates. An interesting point to make is that through Nike Michael Jordan eventually launched his own clothing line called Jumpman23 that makes everything from socks and underwear to winter coats. Even though Jordan has been retired since 1999 the Jumpman23 company has continued to release a new shoe every single year that are simply called “Jordan 24”, an increasing corresponding number to the number of years the shoes have been produced. The new Jordan shoes still retails at over $150 a pair even though Mike hasn’t stepped on the court in 11 years! After retirement and becoming the CEO of the Jumpman brand Michael Jordan has been able to court other famous athletes from a variety of sports to wear his brand. A few examples of the athletes include Derek Jeter (baseball), Dwayne Wade (basketball), Jason Taylor (football), and April Holmes (track and field). The wide range of athletes in all different sports who now market a brand for arguably the greatest athlete of all time truly shows the money, power, and influence an athlete can experience

Celebrity endorsement is possibly the most successful form of advertising. The fact that a celebrity approves of a product is often enough for people to get on board. Advertisements create a false life or image. Chiat says in his article: “Advertising--including movies, TV, and music videos--presents to us a world that is not our world but rather a collection of images and ideas created for the purpose of selling” (Chiat 212) .There is no better way to sell a false life or idea than to have a celebrity sell it for you.

The concept of using sports stars to market non-sport items has soared to new heights. Every corporation in the world is trying to get the edge over their competitors. The classic example is that of the “Cola Wars.” During the 1980s, Pepsi and Coca Cola began an advertising slugfest, in which Pepsi emerged victorious by using Madonna and Michael Jackson as puppets in their commercials. These two companies, as well as thousands of others, have taken advantage of exposing celebrities in their commercials and advertisements. This is done as a means to persuade the public that these products are worth buying.

The first endorsement with Nike is Llie Nastase. Nastase was a Romanian and played professional Tennis. Michael Jordan is worth over one billion dollars. A big chunk of his net pay comes from Nike. Jordan has made more money from Nike than the NBA. Lebron James is the top endorsement when it comes to active NBA players.

Celebrity endorsement is a billion dollar industries today (Kambitsis et al., 2002) with companies signing deals with celebrities hoping that they can help them stand out from the clutter and give them a unique and relevant position in the mind of the consumer. According to Solomon (2002), the reasons for using celebrity endorsement involves its potential to create awareness, positive feelings towards their advertising and brand. Research has shown that celebrity endorsement can have an impact on the consumer’s attention, recall, evaluations and purchase intentions (Atkin and Block, 1993), Celebrity endorsement is a widely used tactic in marketing and much research

Furthermore there are other researches as well which suggest that the approach of using a celebrity to endorse a product can not be viewed as a general practice of using any celebrity for any product endorsement. Pornpitakpan (2003), while discussing match-up hypothesis, describes the results of a study by Erdogen et al (2001) which suggests that "British advertising agency managers considered various criteria like celebrity- target audience match, celebrity-product match, overall image of the celebrity, cost of hiring the celebrity, celebrity trustworthiness, controversy risk, celebrity familiarity, celebrity prior endorsements, celebrity likeability, risk of celebrity overshadowing the brands, celebrity expertise, celebrity profession and celebrity physical attractiveness". A match between the target market and the endorser is important for effectively transmitting right message to target audience. For example, the advertisements which are produced by Pepsi, are mostly targeted for youths and so the celebrity endorsers that they use in their advertisements are young personalities. The match up hypothesis goes true for the multiple celebrity advertising as well. A good example of this is the Pulse Polio campaign taken up in India to eradicate the polio