Samenvatting

In this study the impact of athlete endorsements on the attitude and buying behaviour of consumers was investigated. Many times, endorsers are seen as having a positive impact on a brand and are used to endorse sport products as well as non-sport products. Sometimes an athlete is endorsing different products for different brands at the same time. But while companies are spending a lot of money on athletes to endorse their products, and experts believe companies should match the endorser with their product, not many explanations have been given by previous studies to explain why athletes not only endorse sport products but non-sport products as well, and if this has the same positive effect on the consumer. This study analyse the impact of athlete endorsers on the attitude and behaviour of the consumer towards the brand, looking at sport products as well as non-sport products. In addition, this study analyse the effect of negative publicity about an athlete and how this will affect the advertisement, and the attitude and behaviour of the consumer towards the endorsed brand. This knowledge will provide companies with the strategic help of how and when to make use of an athlete to endorse their products. In order to find an answer on the question whether athlete endorsements have impact on the attitude and buying behaviour of consumers, for sport products as well as non-sport products, literature research has been done. In addition, field research has been done and 128 respondents have participated to the survey which studied the perception of the consumer towards athlete endorsements. It was found that athlete endorsements can have a great impact on consumers. Athletes can draw attention to a brand and shape the perceptions of that brands. Athletes can also make the message more recognisable and more memorable. Athletes can transfer their positive meaning to a brand, which leads to an increase of awareness of a company’s advertisement, an improvement in the company’s image, a more positive attitude of the consumer towards the brand and a great probability of purchasing the product. In order to select the right athlete for the message and make the advertisement as effective as possible, the most important athlete endorser attributes are: expertise with the product, the athlete’s personality and charisma, the popularity of the athlete, and the trustworthiness of the athlete. But although athlete endorsements can create a more positive attitude of the consumer towards the brand and a higher probability of purchasing the endorsed product, this seems mostly the case for sport-related products. People are only more likely to buy food, sports drinks, energy bars, sports material, and sports clothing when endorsed by an athlete. Besides, when we look at the effect of negative publicity of an athlete on the consumer, it depends on the person confronted with negative publicity about an athlete whether it affects the attitude and buying behaviour of this person or not.