Celebrity Endorsers Controversy

According to Dyson& Turco (1997) in Charbonneau and Garland (1998) celebrity endorsers including professional athletes provide important benefits when endorsing products mainly because they break through “media clutter and hold viewers’ attention’. Charbonneau and Garland(2005) report that research is not conclusive in terms of showing that consumers are more likely to buy the product if there is a celebrity used to endorse the product.

As stated in Charbonneau, Erdogan and Kitchen (1998): “using celebrities and athletes is not without risk, with the increased attention comes the risk of overshadowing the brand” Veltri & Long (2003) report that an endorser can become embroiled in a sportspersons’ controversy; not only corporate embarrassment

Athletes present the additional risk of injury visibility reduce endorsement potential while there are risks as cited in Veltri& Long (2003) stated that the widespread and continued practice of using celebrities and advertising agencies believe the risks are worth taking as endorsers function in the role of being a message sender. Many scholars have looked to communication theory to build models to help practitioners in the process of selecting appropriate celebritity endorsers. According to Charbonneau & Garland (1998) the main models relating to celebrity endorsements are the source credibility model, source attractiveness model, and the meaning transfer model. An analysis of the source credibility model suggests that the message’s effectiveness depends on the endorsers perceived credibility, the credibility combines both expertise and skill and athletes are believed to be particularly persuasive and relative to sports related products due to their skills and expertise, which explains their heavy use as endorsers for companies like Nike and Adidas according to Brooks & Harris as cited in (1998). The source attractiveness model proposes that the messages is only effective if there is repeated media exposure, the attractive source is accepted because of the consumers desire to identify with that source. According to Ewen as cited in (1998)

The credibility and expertise of the endorser are found to be the source characteristics with the greatest influence on product purchase intentions. A study by O’Mahony and Meenaghan (1998) confirmed that consumers expect an agreement between the images perceived of the celebrity endorser and the types of products which they endorse. Celebrities possess expertise in product categories that are consistent within their public profiles and lifestyles and a successful endorsement depends on the congruence; it is essential for the marketing managers to use proper consumer research to help assist the choice of a