Athletes as celebrity endorsers: case studies from Sweden

Abstract: Using athletes as celebrity endorsers has led to the successful selling of
products. Both theory and practice prove that the use of superstars in
advertising generates a lot of publicity and attention from the public.
Because of this, organizations pay millions of dollars each year for the
endorsement of their products by athletes. For this reason it is of great
interest to investigate this topic further. This thesis covers the area of
using athletes as celebrity endorsers, which is also stated in the purpose
of this thesis, which is to provide a better undersanging of how athlestea
are used as celebrity endorsers in advertising. In order to reach this
purpose, three research questions are stated, namely: Why do organizations
use athletes as celebrity endorsers?: How are the athletes selected?: How
can the risks involved in using athletes be described?. In order to answer
our research questions and reach our purpose, two case studies of companies
using athletes as celebrity endorsers in their advertising were used. The
findings show that the primary reasons for using athletes as celebrity
endorsers are to create and enhance the brand’s image, benefit from the
company’s sponsorship contracts, and to create a close connection and
association to athletes and sports. The main considerations when selecting
an athlete is their fame and popularity, respect, and the existence of
sponsorship contracts. Finally, we have found that companies view risks as
something that comes with the decision to use athletes in advertising.