Athlete endorsements: the impact of athlete-product congruence and endorser gender on athlete endorsements

Abstract

Objectives

The main objectives of this study were to understand the impact of different levels of athlete-product congruence on the effectiveness of athlete endorsements and to understand the effect of the endorser gender on athlete endorsements.

Summary

First, a pilot survey was conducted to measure the levels of associations between certain athletes and consumer products. Based on the results of the survey, one male and one female athlete were selected, and also one high-congruence and one low-congruence product were selected. After that, six different surveys were created: two control surveys, two surveys with high-congruence products and two surveys with low congruence products. These surveys were then distributed to respondents through social media.

Conclusions

The endorsement with high athlete-product congruence was more effective than the low congruence endorsement or the advertisement without the endorsement. There was no significant difference between the low congruence endorsement and the advertisement without the endorsement. Furthermore, the gender of the endorser did not have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the endorser.