Celebrity endorsement for sporting events using classical conditioning

Abstract

This research investigates whether conditioning (the systematic pairing of celebrity endorsers with sporting events) produces positive attitudes towards sporting events. It also investigates whether using celebrities who are highly congruent with a sporting event leads to a stronger conditioning effect. The results demonstrate that individuals exposed to the systematic pairing of a sporting event with a celebrity did develop a more favourable attitude towards the event than individuals in the control condition. Moreover, the pairing of a celebrity with a sporting event was more effective in forming a positive attitude towards the sporting event when congruence was high.

The effectiveness of celebrity endorsements: a meta-analysis

“…For instance, Stuart et al (1987) increased the number of pairings from one to three, to ten, and eventually to twenty, revealing a steady increase in effectiveness. Although these results do not directly refer to celebrity endorsements, similar effects can be assumed because celebrity endorsements are often seen as a certain type of classical conditioning (e.g., *Chen et al 2012).…”

“…Hence, a match with an endorsed object is evidently of less importance when evaluating the ad because object and ad do not necessarily equal. In addition, marketers and researchers usually test the match with an endorsed object and not the match with the advertisement itself (e.g., *Chen et al 2012;Kamins 1990;*Kamins and Gupta 1994).…”

Adolescent exposure to gambling promotions during televised sport: an exploratory study of links with gambling intentions

“…'Gamblification of sport' (McMullan, 2011, p. 4) may transfer images associated with sport to gambling, promoting youth attitudes that gambling is fun, harmless, healthy and safe Lamont et al, 2011). Because professional athletes can be influential role models (Chen, Lin, & Hsiao, 2012;Bush, Martin, & Bush, 2004), their use as gambling advertising platforms can encourage youth to emulate attitudes and International Gambling Studies 375 behaviours that sporting heroes endorse (Maher et al, 2006;McMullan, 2011). Other researchers suggest these promotions are breeding a new generation of problem gamblers (Derevensky, Sklar, Gupta, & Messerlian, 2010;Lamont et al, 2011).…”

Gambling sponsorship of sport: an exploratory study of links with gambling attitudes and intentions

“…Similar to the effect celebrity endorsementsc an have, image transfer may occur by linking gambling with high-profile sports and sportspersons (Chen, Lin, &Hsiao, 2012;Keller, 1993). Professional sportspersons can be influential role models (Chen et al, 2012), particularly to young people ( Bush, Martin, &B ush, 1999). Consequently, promoting gambling through role modellingc ould normalizeg ambling amongst sports viewers and young sports fans.…”