Abstract
Celebrity athlete endorsement has become a topic of great interest to practitioners, students, and researchers. However, written efforts to explain how, why, and if celebrity athlete endorsement works contain a significant element of “wow” and “hype” to the detriment of a theoretical discussion. There is a desperate need for research specifically related to athletes and their use in product endorsement that goes beyond hype and cursory descriptive discussions. Without the benefit of background knowledge regarding related research that may be used as a “thought springboard,” investigative studies in this area will remain rather modest, imperfect, and/or uninspired. In this paper we present a selection of key concepts that may act as the catalyst for those interested in research topics associated with athlete endorsement. We attempt to present three interrelated content areas of knowledge: (a) how and why society consumes images, (b) the concept of brand equity, and (c) the key theoretical characteristics of the celebrity endorsement process itself. By doing this we hope to inspire new thinking and writing about athlete endorsement that will advance our knowledge.
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