Today it is common to see a famous sportsperson advertising sports products. Do the advantages of this trend outweigh the disadvantages?

The media

has turned

Suggestion

have turned

today’s

sportspeople

into celebrities.

As a result

of

this

, nearly all companies producing

sports

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sporting

goods have signed top athletes to promote their products. While athlete endorsements bring about a number of benefits to businesses, these can easily be offset by possible drawbacks. One of the biggest advantages of using top athletes to endorse sports products is that it helps businesses to build

brand

equity. When a company has positive

brand

equity, customers willingly pay a high price for its products, even though they can get the same quality from a

brand

for less. When Nike sponsored a basketball legend Michael Jordan, introducing Air-Jorden, not many had expected it would become a multi-billion dollar project.

In addition

, yet another benefit of celebrity endorsements is what is known as ‘ad recall’.

That is

, when people see their

favorite

something regarded with special favor or liking

favourite

player in an advertisement, it tends to stick in their memory for long. Having said that, there are certain risks associated with celebrity endorsements. One

such

danger is when sometimes famous athletes can overshadow the products that are being promoted. Consumers may focus on the celebrity, paying almost no attention to the product itself.

This

can particularly be unavoidable when these celebrities are overexposed, meaning the same athlete promoting a similar line of products. But the most damaging blow can occur when these top athletes make morally wrong choices, hurting their own public image. A clear illustration of

this

is Tiger Woods, a famous golf player. His infidelity with a number of women adversely affected the sales of Nike products he was promoting at the time. In conclusion, while most athletes can help businesses build strong

brand

awareness, there is a danger of taking the focus away from the product itself. Even worse, socially unacceptable

behavior

manner of acting or controlling yourself

behaviour

from these

sportspeople

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sports people

could do serious financial damage to the company. In my opinion, given the sheer magnitude of these risks, athlete endorsements can rarely be justified.