© 2009 • Journal of Sport Administration & Supervision • Vol. .docx

© 2009 • Journal of Sport Administration & Supervision • Vol.
1, No. 1, April 200952
Examining the Effectiveness of Athlete Celebrity
endorser characteristics and Product Brand
type: the endorser Sexpertise continuum
Christina S. Simmers, Datha Damron-Martinez, & Diana L.
Haytko
ABStrAct
This research furthers the theoretical perspectives that athlete
endorsers are brands unto
themselves, and that athlete-endorser effectiveness is
determined by congruent pairings of the
athlete-endorser brand and the product brand by introducing the
Endorser Sexpertise Continuum.
This model categorizes athlete celebrity endorsers on the
Endorser Sexpertise Continuum with
anchor points referred to as “acquirable expertise” and
“likeability.” As in successful brand
alliances, this model suggests the types of products/brands the
athlete celebrities would be most
successful in endorsing, depending on their positioning on the
continuum.
Simmers, C. S., Damron-Martinez, D., & Haytko, D. L. (2009).
Examining the effectiveness of athlete celebrity endorser
characteristics and product brand type: The Endorser Sexpertise
Continuum. Journal of Sport Administration & Supervision
1(1),

52-64. doi:10.3883/v1i1_simmers; published online April, 2009.
introduction
Forbes reported that the 10 richest male and
female athletes made a combined $600 million
in salary, prize money and endorsements,
including men’s professional golfer Tiger
Woods who alone earned nearly $100 million
in sponsorships in 2008 (Badenhausen, 2008;
Thomaselli, 2008). Interestingly, many top
athlete endorsers make considerably more
money as endorsers than as athletes in their
chosen sport. For example from June 2007 to
June 2008, female professional golfer Michelle
Wie earned $12 million in endorsement money
but only $39,000 in prize money. Similarly,
former professional basketball player Michael
Jordan made $45 million in endorsements,
despite not having participated in his sport
for many years (Badenhausen, 2008). Some
athletes endorse a multitude of products (e.g.,
National Football League quarterback Peyton
Manning, Woods, and female racecar driver
Danica Patrick), while others limit themselves
keyWordS:
Sport marketing, brand
management, celebrity
endorser, sponsorship, product
endorsement, celebrity
athlete, athlete spokesperson,
source credibility, source
attractiveness
Dr. Christina S. Simmers is

an assistant professor of marketing
at Missouri State University in
Springfield, Missouri. She holds
an MBA from Nicholls State
University and a PhD in marketing
from Louisiana State University.
Her research interests include
advertising issues, consumer
information processing, consumer
behavior and brand alliances.
Dr. Datha Damron-Martinez
is an assistant professor of
marketing at Truman State
University in Kirksville, Missouri.
She holds an MBA, an MA in
Economics, and a PhD in Business
Administration/Marketing from
New Mexico State University.
Her research interests include
script use in relationship selling,
sexual harassment issues in the
sales environment, and unhealthy
consumption patterns in the
Hispanic community.
Dr. Diana l. Haytko is an
associate professor of marketing
at Florida Gulf Coast University
in Fort Myers, Florida. She holds
an MBA and PhD in marketing
from the University of Wisconsin-
Madison. Her research interests
include consumer response
to advertising, advertising
relationship management and

cross cultural consumer behavior.
to products associated with their sport (e.g.,
women’s professional basketball player Candace
Parker) (Janoff, 2008). Recently, many have
speculated the value of athlete endorsers
to a brand’s image, particularly given the
negative publicity surrounding such incidents
as (among others) the marijuana incident of
men’s Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and
the steroid scandal surrounding Major League
Baseball player Alex Rodriguez. These factors
beg questions as to whether, and if so, under
what circumstances, athlete endorsers become
effective in brand marketing. Why are some
celebrities only able to successfully endorse
a limited range of related products, while
others can endorse a wide range of unrelated
products? How does one determine the most
effective combination of celebrity endorser
characteristics and product brand types? An
integration of the endorser and brand literature
offers insight into this phenomenon.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce
the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum and its
1, No. 1, April 2009 53
use in determining optimal fit between athlete
celebrity endorsers and appropriate brands
or products. First, this paper defines celebrity
endorsers and examines current models of

endorser effectiveness. Second, the Endorser
Sexpertise Continuum is introduced and
described. Third, the paper reviews literature
regarding brand concept types and fit in brand
alliances. Fourth, the work draws equivalence
between the concepts of athletic celebrity
endorsers with traditional product brands and
likens endorsements to brand alliances. Fifth,
the paper provides discussion of how the
Endorser Sexpertise Continuum incorporates
brand concept types and matchup endorsement
effectiveness. Lastly, conclusions are drawn
and recommendations are offered for future
research.
endorSer dimenSionS
The Athlete as Celebrity Endorser Defined
Certain athletes are utilized by brands as
endorsers of their products because of the
celebrity status gained by these athletes as a
result of their success in their chosen sports.
According to Boorstin (1961), “[t]he celebrity is
a person who is known for his well-knownness
(p. 57, italics added).” In fact, Boorstin (1961)
refers to celebrities as human pseudo-events,
claiming that the omnipresent print and
broadcast media have provided a “…means of
fabricating well-knownness (p. 47).” As such,
celebrities rise and fall through the processes
and whims of publicity.
McCracken (1989) defines the celebrity
endorser “as any individual who enjoys public
recognition and who uses this recognition on

behalf of a consumer good by appearing with
it in an advertisement” (p. 310). According
to McCracken, celebrities are believed to
increase sales by lending their favorable image
to a product through endorsement. Both
marketers and celebrities have much at stake
in these endeavors and therefore should be
keenly interested in factors that contribute
to successful endorsements. According to
the literature, endorser effectiveness can be
determined based on source credibility, source
attractiveness, and the attribution of endorser
characteristics to the product.
Models of Celebrity Endorser Effectiveness
Most models of celebrity endorser
effectiveness proposed by previous researchers
have been based upon two basic models: the
Source Credibility Model (Hovland, Janis, &
Kelley, 1953; Hovland & Weiss, 1951) and
the Source Attractiveness Model (McGuire,
1968). The Source Credibility Model purports
that the effectiveness of the message is
largely determined by the expertise and
trustworthiness of the celebrity endorser,
which offers explanations for why certain
athlete endorsers such as highly successful
men’s tennis professionals Andre Agassi,
Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer could easily
represent any brand of tennis equipment. In a
different vein, the Source Attractiveness Model
purports that similarity, familiarity, and liking
of celebrity endorsers primarily determine their
effectiveness, which attempts to explain why
some athletes such as Manning, Woods, and

racecar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. can endorse
brands in many different product categories.
A general measure of physical attractiveness
has often been used to assess celebrity endorser
effectiveness, assuming what is beautiful is
good (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972).
However, mixed findings suggest that caution
should be exercised in basing endorsement
decisions on this model alone, since consumers
perceive physical attractiveness differently.
The Product Matchup Hypothesis (Forkan,
1980; Kahle & Homer, 1985; Kamins, 1989;
Kamins, 1990) emphasizes the need for a
matchup, also referred to as congruency or
fit, between the celebrity and the product. For
example, the fit between Woods and Nike Golf
Simmers, Damron-Martinez, & Haytko
1, No. 1, April 200954
is undeniable. However, according to sport
marketing consultant Marc Cagins, Woods
has failed as an endorser for Buick because
of a lack of fit: “People always shook their
head as to why he did the deal anyway with
Buick. If he’s going to do a deal with GM, you
would have thought Cadillac more than Buick”
(Thomaselli, 2008, p. 28).
Research based on attractiveness matchup and

expertise matchup has supported the hypothesis
that celebrity/product fit remains critical to
endorsement success. Kamins (1990) tested the
matchup hypothesis based on attractiveness
and found that the physical attractiveness of
a source only mattered when an attractive
source was paired with an attractiveness-related
product, resulting in increased perceived
source credibility and attitude toward the
advertisement. Current examples would include
the female tennis professionals and sisters
Serena and Venus Williams’ Avon cosmetics
campaign and the European men’s’ soccer
star Thierry Henry/Woods/Federer Gillette
campaign. In a study examining the impact of
gender and physical attractiveness on responses
to motorsports sponsorships (Roy, Stewart, &
Goss, 2003), attractiveness played a greater role
for female drivers than for male drivers, with
the more attractive female drivers perceived
as possessing greater expertise with products
such as shampoo, tanning products, and dietary
products. However, Bower and Landreth
(2001) found that highly attractive models were
not more effective than normally attractive
models for problem-solving, attractiveness-
related products and attributed these results
to the premise that consumers perceive highly
attractive models to have never faced an
attractiveness-related problem and therefore
have little expertise using these products. To
illustrate, this premise would suggest that the
current campaign utilizing female tennis star
Serena Williams for ProActiv acne medication
would be unsuccessful. However, a moderately

attractive model may be more likely to be
perceived to have faced an attractiveness-related
problem and overcome it using the advertised
product, fully illustrating the premise that the
expertise of the source is more important than
the attractiveness of the source.
In Till and Busler’s (2000) examination of
the attractiveness and expertise matchup,
while an attractiveness/matchup effect was
not found, an attractiveness effect and an
expertise/matchup effect were both discovered,
suggesting the possibility of expertise trumping
physical attractiveness in matching celebrities
and products for endorsement effectiveness.
These findings also suggest the possibility that
physical attractiveness is itself considered a type
of expertise. To illustrate, a beautiful female
model may be considered an expert on makeup,
which is a product she could use to enhance
her beauty. However, she may not be perceived
as an expert on cars, because while she looks
beautiful in the car, the car is not connected to
her physical beauty.
McCracken (1989) suggests that a matchup of
attractiveness or expertise alone is insufficient
for achieving successful endorsements, positing
a Model of Meaning Transfer. In this model,
he proposes that celebrity endorsers are special
cases of meaning transfer: “The effectiveness
of the endorser depends, in part, upon the
meanings he or she brings to the endorsement
process” (p. 312). To elaborate, he explains that
numerous cultural meanings exist in the world,
and that celebrities draw meanings from the

culturally constituted world when developing
their images, which are accumulations of
meanings from the roles they assume in various
aspects of their careers, both in media and in
the public eye. McCracken (1989) suggests that,
similar to typecasting of actors in Hollywood,
the consistency of the images that celebrities
develop is the notion that makes them useful to
marketers. These meanings are then transferred
to the products that celebrities endorse.
Endorser Sexpertise Continuum
1, No. 1, April 2009 55
Consumers then recognize that the celebrities
possess compelling or useful cultural meanings,
causing them to buy the endorsed products and
acquire these meanings upon consumption of
the products. Therefore, for an endorsement to
become successful, products must match well
with the bundle of meanings or overall image
of celebrity endorsers rather than with the
element of attractiveness or expertise alone.
The Multidimensional Endorser
Since the overall image of the celebrity must
be taken into consideration in endorsement
decisions, McCracken’s (1989) theory
suggests that celebrity endorsers possess a
multidimensional nature. Erdogan, Baker,
and Tagg (2001) confirm “managers do not
see celebrities as unidimensional individuals

(e.g., attractive, credible)” (p. 45). Rather,
their findings indicate that advertising
agency managers should consider a range of
criteria when choosing celebrity endorsers,
including trustworthiness, expertise, physical
attractiveness, familiarity, and likeability of the
source. Further, the importance of the criteria
depends on the product brand to be endorsed.
the endorSer SexPertiSe continuum
This paper posits that celebrity endorsers may
possess characteristics from both the Source
Credibility Model and the Source Attractiveness
Model, albeit in different proportions, which
interact with different product dimensions to
determine endorsement effectiveness. A new
endorser effectiveness model, entitled The
Endorser Sexpertise Continuum, is therefore
proposed in this article because the need
exists for a theoretical construct that considers
both the roles of expertise and attractiveness
in determining the effectiveness of celebrity
endorsers for particular brands. As shown
in Figure 1, these characteristics lie along a
continuum based on the primary image focus
of the celebrity.
Figure 1
The Endorser Sexpertise Continuum
Billy Blanks Denise Austin Rafael Nadal Peyton Manning
Tiger Woods Michael Jordan

Acquirable Expertise Likeability
Source Credibility Model Source Attractiveness Model
(expertise, trustworthiness) (similarity, familiarity, liking,
physical attractiveness)
Attribute-specific Holistic
Cognitive/Higher involvement Affective/Lower involvement
Piecemeal approach Categorical approach
Functional Symbolic
Can endorse related products Can endorse unrelated products
1, No. 1, April 200956
The left side of the continuum is anchored
by acquirable expertise, which relates directly
to the Source Credibility Model and includes
the concepts of expertise and trustworthiness.
The further the endorser falls toward this
side of the continuum, the more likely the
endorser will be limited to endorsing products
related to his/her own area of expertise, since
consumers have higher involvement with
these kinds of products and therefore will give
much consideration to the products’ functional
properties, and will process the information
using a piecemeal approach. The right side of

the continuum is anchored by likeability, which
relates to the Source Attractiveness Model.
The further the endorser falls toward this side
of the continuum, the more likely he/she can
endorse both products related to his/her area
of expertise and products removed from that
area of expertise. Consumers are drawn to
these products through their liking of these
endorsers. In this case, product involvement
is much lower, so consumers are interested in
symbolic properties of these products and will
use more holistic, categorical approaches. The
following sections discuss these premises in
more detail.
The Roles of Expertise and Likeability
Celebrities “…succeed by skillfully
distinguishing themselves from others
essentially like them (Boorstin,1961, p. 65).”
However, based on the theory that celebrity
endorsers possess a multidimensional nature,
the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum proposes
a distinct difference in the products with
which a celebrity endorser can be appropriately
matched, a conclusion based upon whether
the celebrity endorser’s fame stems from his/
her area of expertise, or whether the source
of the celebrity endorser’s fame stems from
his/her physical attractiveness or personality.
For example, women’s tennis star Anna
Kournikova’s popularity stems almost entirely
from her sex appeal, whereas Woods is known
for his athletic prowess on the golf course.
Each of these athletes anchors a different end
of the continuum. Some athletes such as female

swimmers Amanda Beard and Dara Torres fall
in the middle, possessing both sex appeal and
athletic success.
Celebrity endorsers provide the tools that
consumers seek to affect meaning transfer by
availing the cultural meanings encapsulated in
the material forms of the celebrities’ images
through product endorsement. According to
McCracken (1989), “The celebrity is supplying
not just an example of self-creation, but
the very stuff with which this difficult act is
undertaken” (p. 317).
Some celebrities possess an acquirable
expertise, i.e., other people can learn the same
expertise possessed by certain celebrities.
As previously discussed concerning cultural
meanings, celebrity endorsers provide
consumers with the tools or skills needed
to acquire that same expertise. For example,
Denise Austin and fitness guru/martial artist
Billy Blanks can provide other people with
the tools needed for meaning transfer, so
their celebrity images focuses more on the
characteristic of acquirable expertise through
learning their fitness regimens. These celebrities
tend to gravitate toward the left side of the
continuum, but some may move to the right
end of the continuum, depending on their
degree of likeability. For example, in addition
to wide-ranging fitness options and abilities,
Austin is also generally known for her outgoing
personality, beauty, and calm, encouraging
approach to fitness, so she would fall further
to the right side of the continuum than

Blanks, who is primarily known for his intense
TaeBo fitness regime and is presented as a less
dynamic, less personable figure.
In contrast, some celebrities possess an
inherent expertise unique to that person alone
and therefore cannot be achieved by another
person. For example, Manning’s football
1, No. 1, April 2009 57
abilities cannot be imitated, even if someone
were to take lessons directly from him. People
are attracted to such celebrities. In essence,
these celebrities cannot provide others with
specific, tangible tools they need for meaning
transfer. Accordingly, their celebrity images
focus more on the characteristic of likeability,
causing these celebrities to occupy the right
side of the proposed continuum. Furthermore
qualifying celebrities for the right side of
the continuum would be the popularity and
endurance of the celebrity image. Celebrities
may also move to the right as their images
become more solidified. For example, while
Jordan was a highly successful basketball
player, he transcended that label to be a likeable
celebrity far beyond the basketball court.
Logically, if the image of a celebrity is
focused on an acquirable expertise, the range

of products that he/she can endorse is limited
to that area of expertise. However, if the image
of a celebrity is focused on likeability, then
he/she can endorse a much broader range of
products, since the image transfer is based on
personality feature rather than a particular area
of expertise.
BrAnd concePt tyPeS
Traditionally branded products are classified
into brand types based on consumer needs
and consumer involvement with the product.
This information becomes critical when
allying celebrities with brands. Appropriate
pairings can result in synergy, with both
parties benefiting from the arrangement, and
endorsements done with athlete celebrities
remain no exception and, in fact, may be more
highly sought because of their tendencies
to create such synergy (Rodrigue & Biswas,
2004). Since athlete celebrity endorsers are
brands unto themselves, information on the
types of brands/products they consider for
endorsement becomes critical. The following
section discusses brand concept types and,
subsequently, brand alliance considerations.
Consumer Needs
In developing their Brand Concept
Management (BCM) model, Park, Jaworski
and MacInnis (1986) identified three types
of brand concepts (or images created in a
brand) based on consumer needs: functional,
symbolic, and experiential. Functional needs

are defined as “those that motivate the search
for products that solve consumption-related
problems” (Park et al., 1986, p. 136). Symbolic
needs are defined as “desires for products
that fulfill internally generated needs for self-
enhancement, role position, group membership,
or ego-identification” (Park et al., 1986, p. 136).
Experiential needs are defined as “desires for
products that provide sensory pleasure, variety
and/or cognitive stimulation” (Park et al., 1986,
p. 136). As with BCM, the characteristics of
each of these brand concepts must be taken
into consideration in developing an effective
endorsement. Till and Busler (2000) suggested
that involvement could be a factor to consider
in matchup. Since these brand concepts are
based on consumer needs, a closer look at
consumer involvement and ways they process
information may lead to a better understanding
of this phenomenon.
Consumer Involvement and Information Processing
Petty, Cacioppo, and Schumann (1983)
investigated the moderating role of consumer
involvement in advertising effectiveness. Based
on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM),
they identified two distinct routes to attitude
change based on likelihood of the consumer
elaborating the message: the central route
and peripheral route to persuasion. When
defining attitude change as a representation
of whether a consumer has favorably changed
his/her attitude toward the brand after
encountering some of its communication
(e.g., an advertisement), higher involvement
(the central route) results in more scrutiny

1, No. 1, April 200958
of the message, whereas lower involvement
(the peripheral route) results in consumers
giving little or no thought about the product
qualities presented in the message. In the
central route, attitude changes result from
consumers carefully analyzing information
for a particular situation. In contrast, attitude
changes in the peripheral route result from
inferences made from available cues. The
findings of Petty et al. (1983) indicate that the
persuasive message itself has a greater impact
under high involvement conditions, whereas
the endorser has a greater impact under low
involvement conditions. Therefore, the central
route is a more cognitive dimension, while the
peripheral route is a more affective dimension.
This premise most likely explains why Woods
failed as an endorser for Buick. Since cars are
high involvement products that lead consumers
to carefully analyze information, the likelihood
that a celebrity endorser will work in this
situation declines greatly. Woods’ failed Buick
endorsement can also be coupled to a mismatch
between the celebrity and brand (Thomaselli,
2008). A hypothetical example of the central
versus peripheral route could be found the
use of racecar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. as an
endorser. Earnhardt works well for Mountain

Dew’s Amp energy drink (a low involvement
product) that serves as a co-primary sponsor
of his racecar, since he races with a youthful,
energetic style. Theoretically, however, in the
same role for the National Guard (a high
involvement product), his sponsorships may
prove less effective, since no apparent linkage
exists between Earnhardt’s racing career and
military service.
While Petty et al. (1983) indicated that the
expertise or attractiveness of a message source
is a peripheral cue, their research purports
that, when product involvement is high, an
expert endorser will serve as an argument
for consideration. However, when product
involvement is low, the endorser then serves a
more affective, holistic function and is indeed
a peripheral cue. In their hypothesis test of
attractiveness as a peripheral cue for shampoo,
Petty and Cacioppo (1980) explained that
they found no attractiveness and involvement
interaction and commented that some subjects’
lack of interaction might have been attributed
to model’s appearance as a relevant, persuasive
argument.
Sujan (1985) identified two types of
consumer processing strategies that
complement the central and peripheral routes.
In the piecemeal approach, consumers analyze
each attribute of a product to determine its
overall value. Alternatively, in the categorical
approach, Sujan (1985) notes that consumers
perform more efficient processing by utilizing

previously defined categories: “The belief is
that affect is cued by the categorization of
stimuli rather than through a constructive
attribute review process” (p. 31).
Based on this discussion, since functional
brand concepts are related to problem
solving, they would require more piecemeal
processing and therefore would belong with
the cognitive route of the ELM. On the other
hand, symbolic brand concepts are related
to reference groups and ego enhancement.
They require more categorical processing and
therefore would belong with the peripheral
route of the ELM. Experiential brand concepts
are more internal driven by consumers’ need for
cognitive or sensory stimulation and therefore
are more context-driven. As such, they may
belong in either route, depending upon their
context.
mAtchuP for endorSement
effectiveneSS
To this point, the current paper has
offered a definition of a celebrity endorser
and has examined the branding literature for
traditional brands. Now the discussion turns to
1, No. 1, April 2009 59

equating the endorser as a brand, the necessity
of considering brand concept types, and the
requirements for a successful brand alliance.
Athlete celebrity endorsers are compared to
traditional product brands, and endorsement
agreements are compared with traditional brand
alliance agreements. The following discussion
begins with identifying the endorser as a brand
then moves to examining fit and the role of the
Endorser as a Brand
Kotler (1991) defines a brand as “a name,
term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination
of them which is intended to identify the
goods and services of one seller or group
of sellers and to differentiate them from
those of competitors” (p. 442). In essence,
a brand is represented as an image that has
been developed and that exists in the minds
of consumers. Therefore, since a celebrity
endorser is essentially a bundle of meanings
that combine to form an overall image, a
celebrity endorser can also be considered a
brand.
To further discuss celebrities as their own
brands, marketers often attempt to personalize
their brands by endowing them with certain
human characteristics or brand personalities.
Aaker (1997) defines brand personality as “the
set of human characteristics associated with
a brand” (p. 347). For example, the Marlboro
cigarette brand exhibits a high level of brand
personality. According to Lohof (1969), “The
Marlboro image is a cultural symbol which

speaks to the collective imagination of the
American people. It speaks of virgin frontier
and of brutal efficacy and constant vigilance
which the frontier exacts from its residents”
(p. 447; cf. Reddy, Holak, & Bhat, 1994).
However, in the case of a celebrity endorser,
the brand is an actual person. Rather than
developing a brand personality for a product,
a celebrity endows his/her clearly defined,
existing personality to the product through
endorsement. Therefore, a celebrity endorser
can be considered the epitome of a brand
personality. O’Donnell (2008) claims that the
pairing of Michael Jordan and Nike set the
standard for athlete/product endorsement
matchup, and one can argue that Nike’s
success is rooted in that partnership decision.
Nevertheless, all brands have lifecycles (Ries
& Ries, 1998). Nike has experiences problems
selling the Jordan brand since Jordan’s
retirement in 2003 because many consumers in
younger demographics have only seen Jordan
play on highlight reels and do not perceive him
as relevant (Intini, 2008). Thus, the brand’s
new focus will be on the myth of Michael
with “Become Legendary” as the new tagline
(Intini, 2008). Intini (2008) believes that if Nike
handles this new strategy well, Jordan could
become sport’s first immortal brand.
Endorsement as a Brand Alliance
If an endorser can be considered a brand,
then the pairing of a celebrity endorser and a
product brand is analogous to the concept of
a brand alliance. According to Rao & Ruekert

(1994), because brand names are valuable assets,
they can combine with other brand names
in a synergistic alliance in which the sum is
greater than the parts. In the case of a celebrity
endorsement, the product brand associates with
the endorser in an effort to develop a stronger
positive consumer attitude toward the product
brand, essentially hoping to capitalize on
positive spillover effects. The work of Simonin
and Ruth (1998) supports this strategy. Based
on familiarity, Simonin and Ruth (1998) found
that spillover effects might not always affect the
partners equally. If two highly familiar brands
ally, they experience equal spillover effects.
However, in an asymmetrical relationship
the less familiar brand experiences greater
spillover effects. In essence, celebrities should
be compensated based on their contribution
towards such a spillover effect.
However, the threat of negative spillover
1, No. 1, April 200960
effects necessitates consideration by both
endorsers and product manufacturers, when
engaging in partner selections. An action by
an athlete is considered a scandal if it is illegal
or unethical, involves multiple parties over a
sustained period of time, and/or whose impact
affects the integrity of the sport with which he

or she is associated (Hughes & Shank, 2005).
Hughes and Shank (2005) reason that a one-
time violation by an admired sports celebrity
will carry less impact with the consumer than
repeated illegal or unethical events. In contrast,
Behr and Beeler-Norrholm (2006) posit that
the notion of celebrities-gone-bad is part of
the fun for consumers and question whether
it truly does serious damage to the consumers’
views of the endorsed brand. This may be true
for the celebrities who are liked specifically
for their rebellious personalities but is not
generally applicable for all endorsers. When
measuring consumer skepticism, Bailey (2007)
found the strength of the association between
the endorser and the brand affects whether
the negative information will affect consumer
perceptions and attitudes.
Positive and negative spillover effects impact
brand alliances. Since the image of the brand
is composed of an accumulation of meanings,
each time a brand associates with another
brand, the experience impacts and contributes
to its overall image (Rodrigue & Biswas 2004).
To maintain its marketing value, the product
brand and the endorser brand must each strive
to maintain a consistent individual image in the
public eye.
Fit
The concern of fit in a brand alliance can
also be applied in the case of an athlete
celebrity endorsement. Simonin and Ruth
(1998) found that product fit and brand fit are
related positively to attitudes toward the brand

alliance. In the endorsement literature, expertise
had a stronger effect on attitude toward the
brand and purchase intentions than physical
attractiveness (Ohanian 1991; O’Mahoney &
Meenaghan 1998; Till & Busler 1998). When
the fit between the endorser and the endorsed
product is incongruent, only attractiveness
remains important (Kim & Na 2007). Further,
the work of Broniarczyk and Alba (1994)
supports the idea that a specific brand attribute,
such as the expertise of the celebrity, will have
a greater influence on the effectiveness of the
endorsement than the overall image of the
brand. Experience with a product does not
always equate to expertise with the product
(Siemens, Smith, Fisher, & Jensen 2008). Sport
celebrity endorsers especially must carefully
choose their endorsements, since they could
be held liable if they do not use the product
they endorse (Moorman 2006). If consumers
are more engrossed in a product, then they will
be paying closer attention to the significant
attributes of the brand rather than the holistic
affect related to the brand. However, less
involved consumers will not be as interested or
knowledgeable about relevant product issues
and may look more for a holistic affect.
As shown in Figure 1, the functional brand
concept has been paired with the celebrity
endorser known for an acquirable expertise.
If the consumer is in the central route and is
processing information in a piecemeal fashion,
then the expertise of the endorser may be an
important consideration. The symbolic brand

concept has been paired with the celebrity
endorser known for likeability. While these
celebrities could endorse a product related to
their original area of expertise (e.g., Woods and
Nike Golf), they have transcended this level
and are also able to endorse unrelated products
based on affect (e.g., Woods and Gillette). If
the consumer is in the peripheral route and
is processing information categorically, then
the overall image of the celebrity will play
an important role in the purchase decision.
However, these celebrities would not be
successful endorsers for functional products in
1, No. 1, April 2009 61
which they have no expertise (e.g., Woods and
Buick automobiles).
concLuSionS
In the introduction of this paper, two
questions were posed. The first asked why some
celebrities are only able to endorse a limited
range of related products, while others can
endorse a wide range of unrelated products.
The second asked which combinations of
celebrity endorser characteristics and product
brand types would be most effectively matched.
Based on the prior discussion, these questions
can be answered simultaneously. An effective

athlete celebrity endorsement depends upon
the endorser’s placement on the Endorser
Sexpertise Continuum and the product’s brand
concept type.
Celebrities who are known for acquirable
expertise are limited in what they can endorse.
For example, Blanks is known for his
expertise in creating TaeBo exercises, to which
consumers assumptively credit his physical
fitness. This is an acquirable skill that he teaches
to consumers who purchase his exercise videos.
Nadal was recently chosen as an endorser
for Lanvin L’Homme Fragrances (Evans &
Stockman, 2008). While clearly known for
his tennis ability and therefore potentially
an excellent functional product endorser for
tennis-related products (e.g., rackets, balls, and
clothing), Nadal does not appear to possess
enough attraction to endorse a product such as
cologne, particularly since consumers usually
see him covered in perspiration. Accordingly,
Nadal falls more toward the center of the
On the other hand, celebrities who are known
for their likeability or overall image are not
as limited in products that they can endorse.
These celebrities are good matches for affective
products but can also endorse functional
products within his/her area of expertise.
The quintessential example of a likable
sport celebrity is Michael Jordan; consumers
buy cologne endorsed by him (symbolic)
and basketball shoes (functional). However,

many other likable sport celebrity examples
exist, including female tennis professional
Maria Sharapova, who endorses Nike athletic
products , Gatorade thirst quencher beverages
(functional), and Canon cameras (symbolic);
and Danica Patrick, who endorses Honda
automobiles, Peak antifreeze (functional),
Motorola electronics, Go Daddy Web site
domain registration, AirTran Airlines, and Tisso
watches (symbolic).
As a final note, both marketers and celebrities
have much at stake in endorser agreements
and must keep McCracken’s (1989) concept
of typecasting, or the development and
maintenance of a consistent image, at the
forefront of consideration to maximize
marketability. Implied in the proposed
endorsement effectiveness model is the notion
that celebrity endorsers can move along the
continuum in either direction. If a celebrity
becomes associated with something negative
(such as former National Football League
quarterback Michael Vick’s alleged involvement
in dog fighting), he /she can slide to the left
of the continuum, making him /her less
marketable. For example, immediately following
the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Brandweek
reported that Michael Phelps’ pre-Olympics
endorsement estimate of $5 million had
doubled and that he could earn more than $100
million in his lifetime from deals stuck with
Visa, Hilton Hotels, AT&T, Omega, Kellogg’s,
Power Bar, Mazda, and Speedo (Beirne, 2008).
Following the January 2009 publication of
a photo showing Phelps allegedly smoking

marijuana, Kellogg’s dropped him quickly as
an endorser, while Mazda announced no plans
to drop him (Chi-Chu 2009). This single event
seems to have shifted Phelps’ endorsement
potential to the left of the continuum, though
1, No. 1, April 200962
the actions of his other sponsors remain to be
seen. Speculation regarding sponsors’ intentions
toward Phelps goes both ways; Hein (2009)
comments that Phelps’ earning potential “like
Cheech and Chong is up in smoke” (p. 42),
while Ritson (2009) comments that Phelps
will not “go to pot” (p. 22) and opines that his
endorsement potential remains strong.
Conversely, if celebrities develop enduring,
likeable images, they may move to the right
of the continuum, thereby becoming more
marketable. For example, Danica Patrick
participates in a sport where both men and
(considerably fewer) women compete in the
same field, a factor which companies heavily
emphasize when examining her overall brand
value. Appealing to both genders significantly
improves an athlete’s marketability, yet
few athletes reach this crossover potential.
More commonly, while female athletes are
underrepresented in product endorsements,
female consumers trust women athletes and

spokespersons, whereas male consumers trust
male athletes (Boyd and Shank 2004; Grau,
Landreth, Roselli and Taylor 2007). Achieving
her first Indy car win in April 2008 added to
Patrick’s credibility and paved the way for her
to move beyond reliance upon her attractive
looks for celebrity endorser appeal, an attribute
attributed to Kournikova, who has not won a
singles tournament title since turning pro in
1995 (Janoff, 2008; Cuneen, Spencer, Ross, and
Apostolopoulou, 2007). Summarily, partner
selection should be based on the overall image
that the endorser can contribute and its match
to the brand concept of the company to create
a seamless match between the endorser, brand,
and product.
future reSeArch
Recently, Red Bull energy drink signed
National Football League stars Reggie Bush and
Devin Hester to sponsorship deals (Scibetti,
2008). Such a strategy was an unprecedented
move for Red Bull, whose sport marketing
strategy has historically been one of complete
ownership. For example, in 2006, Red Bull
acquired complete ownership of the Major
League Soccer franchise New York/New Jersey
MetroStars and renamed it New York Red Bulls
(Haplin, 2006).
Future research should empirically test the
Endorser Sexpertise Continuum by identifying
current athlete endorser celebrities and their
places on the continuum by categorizing the
brand personalities of the athlete celebrities,

as well as their brand alliance portfolios and
the resulting athlete celebrity brands. Further
exploration could also identify product
categories and brands that would be considered
inside and outside the area of expertise of each
athlete celebrity, including the categorization
of athlete endorsements by Fullerton and Merz
(2008), which consists of alignment-based
strategies and sports-based strategies. The
type of product (i.e., functional, experiential,
or symbolic) can also be considered in this
research. Different pairings (brand alliances)
could examine the resulting brand attitude and
purchase intention consumers have related to
certain products, as well as any spillover effect
on both the product brand and the athlete
celebrity brand. Future research can also track
the use of these kinds of endorsements and
examine the resulting movement (if any) of the
athlete celebrity endorser toward either end of
the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum.
For a whitepaper summary of this article, visit:
http://www.jsasonline.org/home/v1n1/whitepapers/simmers
1, No. 1, April 2009 63
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Examining the Effectiveness of Athlete Celebrity Endorser
Characteristics and
Product Brand Type: The Endorser Sexpertise Continuum
Christina S. Simmers
Assistant Professor
Missouri State University
Datha Damron-Martinez
Assistant Professor
Truman State University
Diana L. Haytko
Associate Professor
Florida Gulf Coast University
Contact Author:
Christina S. Simmers
[email protected]
417-836-3195 phone

417-836-4466 FAX
Research Problems
The purpose of this paper is to examine elements of successful
athlete celebrity endorsements. The paper
addresses why some athlete celebrities can only endorse a
limited range of related products, while other
athlete celebrities can endorse a wide range of unrelated
products. Optimum combinations of athlete/product
endorsement match-up are also discussed, and a rubric for
addressing this match-up called the Endorser Sexpertise
Continuum is introduced.
Importance of Issues
Athlete celebrities, as well as product brand marketers, have
much at stake when entering endorser agreements.
Forbes reported that the 10 richest male and female athletes
made a combined $600 million in salary, prize money
and endorsements, including men’s professional golfer Tiger
Woods, who alone earned nearly $100 million in
sponsorships in 2008. Interestingly, many top athlete endorsers
make considerably more money as endorsers than
as athletes in their chosen sports. For example, from June 2007
to June 2008, female professional golfer Michelle
Wie earned $12 million in endorsement money, but only
$39,000 in prize money. Similarly, former professional
basketball player Michael Jordan made $45 million in
endorsements during the same period, despite not having
participated in his sport for several years. With such
considerable sums at stake, brands must carefully consider the
celebrities they entrust with their brands’ images, as well as the
perceived relationship between the celebrity persona
and the endorsed product.

Journal of Sport Administration & Supervision
A SYSTEMS-BASED THINkING & LEARNING JOURNAL
Issues
This paper proposes athlete celebrities are brands unto
themselves and must manage their brand carefully to
maximize their endorsement marketability. A favorable and
consistent image in the minds of consumers becomes
important for both the athlete celebrity brand and for the
branded product he/she is endorsing. Positive and
negative spillover effects individually impact both the athlete
celebrity brand and the branded product, similar to
the concept of brand alliances. Since brand image is composed
of an accumulation of meanings, each time a brand
associates with another brand, the experience impacts and
contributes to its overall image. In other words, each
current endorsement impacts the future endorsement
opportunities of the athlete celebrity.
Summary
So what limits the endorsement opportunities for an athlete
celebrity? How does one determine the best branded
products to endorse? These questions can be answered
simultaneously. An effective athlete celebrity endorsement
depends upon the endorser’s placement on the Endorser
Sexpertise Continuum and the product’s brand concept
type. The left side of the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum is
anchored by acquirable expertise, which includes the
concepts of expertise and trustworthiness of the endorser. The
further the endorser falls toward this side of the
continuum, the more likely he/she will be limited to endorsing
products related to his/her own area of expertise,

since consumers have higher involvement with these kinds of
products and therefore will give much consideration
to the products’ functional properties and will process the
information using a piecemeal approach. The right side
of the Endorser Sexpertise Continuum is anchored by
likeability, which includes the concepts of likeability and
attractiveness of the endorser. The further the endorser falls
toward this side of the continuum, the more likely
he/she can endorse both products related to his/her area of
expertise and products removed from that area of
expertise. Consumers are drawn to these products through their
liking of these endorsers. In this case, consumers’
product involvement is much lower, so they become primarily
interested in symbolic properties of these products
and will use more holistic, categorical approaches. Athlete
celebrities who are known for their likeability or overall
image are not as limited in products that they can endorse.
Analysis
Implied in the proposed Endorser Sexpertise Continuum is the
notion that celebrity endorsers can move along the
continuum in either direction. If a celebrity becomes associated
with something negative (such as former National
Football League quarterback Michael Vick’s alleged
involvement in dog fighting), he/she can slide to the left of the
continuum, making him/her less marketable. Conversely, if
celebrities develop enduring, likeable images, they may
move to the right of the continuum, thereby becoming more
marketable.
Discussion
Athlete celebrities need to guard the perceived images of their
own brands. If they are only known for their
expertise, their endorsement opportunities may be limited to

their areas of expertise. If they are able to transcend
this perception to include greater likeability and attraction, they
increase their likelihood of endorsing products
unrelated to their areas of expertise, thereby becoming more
generally marketable. Summarily, selection of athlete
celebrity endorsements should be based on brand images that
they can contribute to the endorsed brand, as well
as their match to the brand concept of the endorsed branded
product to create a seamless match between the
endorser, brand, and product.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further
reproduction prohibited without
permission.
Each student writes two pages (double-spaced, Times New
Roman, 12-point font, 1-inch margins) in response to the case
questions that I post for the Parable of the Sadhu case.
What was the ethical dilemma in the case?
What would you do if you were in the shoes of McCoy? Why?
Please use your ethical knowledge to defend your answer
What are the similarities between the case and situations in
organizations? Please explain.

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