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209l APRIL 2012 l International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship

Executive summary

Evidence shows that marketers and advertisers arewilling to spend millions of dollars to improve theirpromotional opportunities by associating their productswith celebrity athlete endorsers. An increasing numberof sporting events featuring celebrity endorsement aretaking place worldwide. However, only limitedresearch has been undertaken into the effectiveness ofsuch endorsements. Furthermore, whilst someresearchers may have examined the effects of endorsercharacteristics on the promotion of a sporting event,

they have neglected to study endorser-product fit. Withthe abundance of celebrity endorsement (and anincreasing willingness to spend millions of dollars inthis area) investigation into the effects of celebrityendorsement on sporting events is warranted. Basedon evidence indicating that favourable stimuli result inconditioned responses, and the identified need tostudy sporting events, this study conducted fourexperiments on sporting events using classicalconditioning.


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Celebrity endorsement for sporting events using classical conditioning

Keywordssporting eventscelebritiesathletesendorsementconditioning

Abstract

This research investigates whether conditioning (thesystematic pairing of celebrity endorsers with sportingevents) produces positive attitudes towards sportingevents. It also investigates whether using celebritieswho are highly congruent with a sporting event leads toa stronger conditioning effect. The results demonstratethat individuals exposed to the systematic pairing of asporting event with a celebrity did develop a morefavourable attitude towards the event than individuals inthe control condition. Moreover, the pairing of a celebritywith a sporting event was more effective in forming apositive attitude towards the sporting event whencongruence was high.

Chen-Yueh Chen (corresponding author)Associate Professor, Department of Athletic SportsNational Chung Cheng University, TaiwanCorrespondence address: 9-1, Alley 13, Lane 649, Sinjhuang RoadSinjhuang City, 242, Taipei, TaiwanTel: 886 953 333 447Email: [email protected]

Yi-Hsiu LinAssistant Professor, Department of Sport ManagementAletheia University, Taiwan

Chia-Lin HsiaoGraduate Institute of Sport and Leisure Education, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan

Peer reviewed

SMS13.3 Paper 3 pp209-219 KT 24/4/12 15:59 Page 209

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In Experiments 1 and 3 we tested whetherindividuals exposed to the systematic pairing of abaseball or basketball event with a celebrity developeda more favourable attitude towards the event thanindividuals who were not exposed to the pairing. Theresults demonstrated that pairing a well-liked athletewith a sporting event did positively impact audiencesattitudes towards an event. Experiments 2 and 4 testwhether conditioned attitude towards a baseball orbasketball event (the difference between the treatmentcondition and the control condition) was greater whenthere is a perceived congruence between the sportingevent and the celebrity. Results showed that, when thecelebrity was highly matched with a sporting event,there was a stronger conditioning than when thecelebrity was not highly congruent with the sportingevent.

This study aims to explain the underlying processthat drives the transfer of affect. Classical conditioning(one of the most common methods for associativelearning) is used to explain the match-up hypothesis.The results of the study demonstrate insights formatching a celebrity endorser with specific sportingevents and for improving the effectiveness of celebrityendorsement in general. Finally, the results of thisstudy provide sporting event organisers with anunderstanding of the value of properly pairingcelebrities with appropriate sporting events.

Introduction

Celebrity endorsement of sporting events has beenincreasingly employed since the 1970s (Tom et al,1992; Agrawal & Kumakura, 1995) as a means to cutthrough advertising clutter and to attract viewerattention. Celebrities and celebrity athletes haveappeared to bring benefits to events that otherendorsers could not (Charbonneau & Gerland, 2006).As a result, athlete endorsements have become one ofthe main forms of sports marketing used by manyleading corporations (Yu, 2005).

Evidence shows that marketers and advertisers are

willing to spend millions of dollars on improvingpromotional opportunities by associating their productimages with celebrity athlete endorsers (Jones &Schumann, 2000). Moreover, consumers have beenfound to make positive inferences about productspresented in association with celebrities as theyprocess advertisements (McCraken, 1989). However,use of celebrity endorsers has not been without risk.Till and Shimp (1998) argue that harmful publicitymay occur if a celebrity becomes associated with anegative event. Research has revealed that, regardlessof potential risks associated with celebrityendorsement, this process is still widely regarded asprofitable. In fact, Agrawal and Kamukura (1995)found that return on market value increasedimmediately after the announcement of a contract witha celebrity endorser.

Examining the effectiveness of celebrity endorsementhas become a popular activity for practitioners andacademics (Kaikati, 1987). Studies in recent yearshave used various mechanisms to assess theeffectiveness of celebrity endorsement, including:attribution theory (Mowen & Brown, 1981; Tripp,Jensen & Carlson, 1994); elaboration likelihood model(Petty, Cacioppo & Schumann, 1983); socialadaptation theory (Kahle & Homer, 1985); culturalmeaning transfer (McCraken, 1989); sourcecharacteristics, such as attractiveness, expertise,trustworthiness etc (Ohanian, 1991); schema theory(Lynch & Schuler, 1994); and associative learning(Cunningham, Fink & Kenix, 2008; Fink, 2004; Till &Busler, 2000; Till & Shimp, 1998; Till, Stanley &Periluck, 2008). Of these research mechanisms,associative learning has been used most frequently todemonstrate the effectiveness of celebrityendorsement.

Associative learning focuses on the links, orrelationships, between concepts (Klein, 1991). It hasbeen a useful framework for understanding match-uphypothesis, which suggests that endorsers are moreeffective when there is congruence between theendorser and the endorsed product (Kamins, 1990;Lynch & Schuler, 1994; Till & Busler, 2000). Kim and

Celebrity endorsement


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Na (2007) revealed that individuals evaluated anendorsed product more favourably when the celebrityand product fit was congruent. In a New Zealandcontext study, Charbonneau and Garland (2006)found that athletes were actually considered to beexperts by the public when endorsing an unbrandedsports drink. Congruence was further specified by Tilland Busler (2000) who showed that athletes weremore effective at endorsing energy bars than actors thus, further indicating that athletes are the mostappropriate endorsers of sport-related products.

Whilst associative learning theory has been used toexplain endorsement effectiveness, the underlyingmechanisms facilitating these effects have not beenfully explored. However, research employingconditioning has been used to further understandadvertising effectiveness (Grossman & Till, 1998;Priluck & Till, 2004; Stuart, Shimp & Engle, 1987).Till et al (2008) proposed that, as one of the commoncharacteristics of associative learning, classicalconditioning could help to explain the basic notion offit between the endorser and the endorsed product.Classical conditioning is a process whereby anunconditioned stimulus (one that naturally produces aresponse) is paired with a conditioned stimulus (onethat does not naturally produce a response) and actsto elicit the conditioned response following the pairing(Shimp, 1991). McSweeney and Bierley (1984)argued that, when there is a good fit betweenconditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus, it iseasier to develop an associative link between the twostimuli. It is this principle of conditionedstimulus/unconditioned stimulus congruence thatprovides the theoretical underpinning for the match-uphypothesis (Till et al, 2008).

The majority of previous studies on the effectivenessof celebrity endorsement have focused on tangiblegoods, such as sport drinks, as the research object.Little research has examined the effects of endorsercharacteristics on the promotion of sporting events(e.g. Cunningham et al, 2008; Fink, 2004). Athleteproduct endorsement has been a popular sportmarketing tactic used by many corporations (Yu,

2005). As the numbers of sporting events increase,celebrity athletes, such as British footballer DavidBeckham, have become more effective at productendorsement of events such as the football World Cup.For example, Kim and Na (2007) found thatconsumers had a more positive evaluation of sportshoes when the fit between the shoe and celebrityendorser was congruent. Nevertheless, Kim and Nadid not elaborate on how the fit effect worked.

With an increasing number of sporting events takingplace around the world, there is a commensurate needfor increased sporting event endorsement. Evidencehas shown that marketers and advertisers are willingto spend large sums on celebrity athlete endorsementof their products (Jones & Schumann, 2000).Attention to the environments in which these productsare advertised (the sporting events) is thereforewarranted. Previous research has examined the effectsof endorser characteristics on the promotion ofsporting events, but attention has not been given tothe endorser-product fit. Consequently, understandinghow the endorser-product fit works for sporting eventsdoes warrant sport marketers attention.

Research in the field of classical conditioningimplies that pairing a positive, unconditioned stimuluswith a conditioned stimulus does result in positiveattitudes towards the conditioned stimulus. Variousunconditioned stimuli have been utilised to examineconditioning effect, including: pleasant pictures(Grossman & Till, 1998; Shimp et al, 1991; Stuart etal, 1987); humour (Allen & Madden, 1985);unpleasant images (Baeyans, Crombez, Van DenBergh & Eelen, 1988); and celebrities (Till et al,2008). Some research (albeit limited) has beenattempted using celebrities as unconditioned stimuluswithin the framework of classical conditioning (e.g. Till et al). Surprisingly, however, only limitedstudies have been dedicated to the effectiveness ofcelebrity endorsement, despite the increasing numberof sporting events taking place worldwide. Due to theunique aspects of sport and event product proposedby Mullin, Hardy and Sutton (2007), there is a needto examine the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement



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for sporting events specifically. Sports marketingresearchers efforts to investigate celebrityendorsement effects is therefore necessary.

With the preponderance of evidence to indicate thatfavourable stimuli result in conditioned responses, andthe identified need to study sporting events, the firsthypothesis of this study was formed as follows(Experiments 1 and 3).

H1: Individuals exposed to the systematic pairing ofa sporting event with a celebrity will develop amore favourable attitude towards the sportingevent than individuals in the control condition(no systematic sporting event/celebrity pairing).

McSweeney and Bierley (1984) argue that theprinciple of conditioned stimulus/unconditionedstimulus congruence supports the concept ofstrategically matching the stimuli to strengthen theassociative link. We agree that, to some extent,conditioning principles do account for thepsychological mechanism of the match-up hypothesis(Till et al, 2008). Therefore, it is expected thatattitudes will be more favourable towards a sportingevent when there is congruence between the celebrityand the sporting event i.e. when pairing via classicalconditioning procedures. This reasoning leads to thesecond hypothesis (Experiments 2 and 4).

H2: Conditioned attitude towards a sporting event(difference between the treatment condition andthe control condition) will be greater when thereis a perceived congruence between the sportingevent and the celebrity.

Four experiments were performed to test thehypotheses in order to ensure the external validity ofthe current study. Experiments 1 and 2 wereconducted using a baseball scenario whilstExperiments 3 and 4 were based on a basketballscenario.

Experiment 1

The purpose of Experiment 1 was to test whetherindividuals exposed to the systematic pairing of afictitious baseball event with a celebrity endorserdeveloped a more favourable attitude towards thatevent than individuals in the control condition (nosystematic baseball event/celebrity pairing).

Participants and stimuliEighty undergraduate students from major Taiwaneseuniversities participated in this experiment 40 fromuniversities the north and 40 from those in the south.The participants were a 50/50 male/female split andan average age of 20.9 years with a standarddeviation of 1.03. University students have beenidentified, in surveys funded by the National ScienceCouncil in Taiwan, as forming the main group of fansfor the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).Thus, the students used in this study ensuredreasonable representativeness of the target populationfor the CPBL.

Prior to Experiment 1, a pilot test was conducted tochoose a suitable celebrity athlete endorser. 109students were asked to select, based on attractivenessand trustworthiness scales (Ohanian, 1990), acelebrity athlete to endorse a baseball event. Theattractiveness scale contained five items:attractive/unattractive, classy/not classy, beautiful/ugly,elegant/plain, sexy/not sexy (Cronbachs alpha =.918). The trustworthiness scale also included fiveitems: dependable/undependable, honest/dishonest,reliable/unreliable, sincere/insincere,trustworthy/untrustworthy (Cronbachs alpha = .958).Semantic differential scales were employed.Participants identified CPBL player, Cheng-Min Pen, asthe player they considered the most attractive andtrustworthy. Consequently, Pen was selected as thecelebrity athlete endorser for the study and his imagewas chosen as the unconditioned stimulus. In order toensure that the sporting event was not affected, theconditioned stimulus was a photo of a fictitiousbaseball event (the Apollo Baseball Event).




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Interspersed in the slide show used by researcherswere five images of fictitious products KetonFashion, Vohie Cars, Yapui Boots, Ditaif Cosmetics andJemey Hair Dying along with 10 filler images ofabstract paintings and scenery.

Procedure and measuresThis experiment was a simple two-group designutilising a treatment group versus a control group andwell-established classical conditioning procedures(Shimp, 1991). The participants were randomlyassigned to the control group (40 participants) and tothe treatment group (40 participants). The treatmentgroup was exposed to images systematically pairingthe event (conditioned stimulus) with the celebrity(unconditioned stimulus) amid filler images. Thecontrol group was exposed to the same images, butwithout the systematic pairing of the conditionedstimulus and unconditioned stimulus.

To obtain a conditioning effect, Till et al (2008)recommended using five sets of pairings in thetreatment condition between the conditioned stimulusand unconditioned stimulus. They found that fivepairings lead to conditioning effects but did not resultin subject boredom (Till et al). For example, thetreatment condition involved participants viewing aslide show containing five images pairing the eventwith the celebrity endorser, whom they considered tobe attractive and trustworthy. (Images of the eventalways preceded those of the celebrity, as well asthose of fictitious products and filler images.)

The experiment was conducted in university classsessions. At the beginning of the class, participantswere informed that they were participating in a sportmarketing study on consumers responses toadvertisements and were given a booklet withinstructions and questions. After reading the booklet,participants viewed the slide presentation. In order toensure the experimental manipulation, both the

treatment and control groups were exposed five timesto the conditioned stimulus and unconditionedstimulus. Only the treatment group received thesystematic pairing of the conditioned stimulus andunconditioned stimulus, whereas the control groupwas shown a randomised series of images. Each slidewas shown for five seconds. A blank slide was alwaysinserted after every two images and was shown fortwo seconds. All conditions were identical for bothtreatment and control groups, except that theconditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus werenever presented contiguously in the control group.Participants were asked to answer the questions in thebooklet after the slide presentation had concluded.

The dependent variable in the experiment wasparticipant attitude towards the event. Consistent withprior research, a seven-point semantic differentialscale was utilised with the following items: good/bad,high quality/low quality, like very much/dislike verymuch, superior/inferior, attractive/unattractive,pleasant/unpleasant, interesting/boring (Cronbachsalpha = .922) (Grossman & Till, 1998; Shimp et al,1991; Till et al, 2008). All items were averaged torepresent overall attitude towards the event.

ResultsTable 1 reports means and standard deviations byconditions for 80 subjects. The mean of attitudetowards the event was 3.98 for the treatment group,compared to 3.12 for the control group. Thisdifference was statistically significant (t=3.74, p< .001). Results of this experiment revealed thatindividuals exposed to the systematic pairing of theevent with the celebrity did develop a more favourableattitude towards the event than individuals in thecontrol condition (no systematic baseballevent/celebrity pairing). This supported H1.



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Experiment 2

The purpose of Experiment 2 was to test whetherconditioned attitude (the difference between thetreatment condition and the control condition) towardsa baseball event increased when there was aperceived congruence between the event and thecelebrity endorser.

Participants and designA total of 80 undergraduate students (37 male and 43 female) from a major university in centralTaiwan participated in this experiment. Thisexperiment used a 2x2 between-subjects factorialdesign (systematic pairing vs. no systematic pairinghigh congruence vs. low congruence) i.e. four groups a high congruence treatment group, a lowcongruence treatment group, a high congruencecontrol group and a low congruence control group].Prior to the experiment, a pilot test of 109 participantswas performed to choose a celebrity endorserconsidered to have high congruence with a baseballsporting event and another considered to have lowcongruence. The measure for perceived congruenceincluded: appropriate/inappropriate, fit/not fit, andsuitable/not suitable (Cronbachs alpha = .937).Results showed that pop singer, Andy Lao, wasidentified as having low congruence with the sportingevent whilst CPBL player, Cheng-Min Pen, wasselected as having high congruence. Both celebritieswere readily identifiable to participants.

Stimuli and proceduresIn this experiment, a photo of Pen was chosen as theunconditioned stimulus for the high congruencetreatment group because of his athletic image. Lao waschosen as the low congruence treatment group due tohis lack of association with athletics. Participants inboth groups were exposed to five pairings ofconditioned stimulus/unconditioned stimulus,embedded with a random sequence of the same fillerimages used in Experiment 1. The control groups wereexposed to the same materials, but in random order. Allprocedures and the measure of attitude towards thesporting event were identical to Experiment 1.

Manipulation checkThe analysis for the high/low congruence manipulationrevealed that participants rated Pen as highlycongruent with the event (M=6.06) compared to Lao(M=2.27, t=15.21, p


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significant. Thus, the interaction effect implies thatpairing of conditioned stimulus/unconditioned stimulusis more effective in the formation of a positive attitudetowards a sporting event when congruence betweenthe endorser and the event is high, which supportsH2.

Experiment 3

The purpose of Experiment 3 was to test whetherindividuals exposed to the systematic pairing of abasketball event with a celebrity endorser developed amore favourable attitude towards the event thanindividuals in the control condition (no systematicbasketball event/celebrity pairing).

Participants and stimuliEighty spectators of the Super Basketball League (SBL)professional basketball league in Taiwan participatedin this experiment. Of the participants, 36 werefemale and 44 were male with an average age of19.3 years with a standard deviation of 2.13. Theparticipants were identified as representative of thehighly supportive fans of the SBL, according tosurveys funded by the National Science Council ofTaiwan.

Prior to Experiment 3, a pilot test was conducted tochoose a suitable celebrity athlete to endorse abasketball event. One hundred spectators were asked

to select a suitable celebrity athlete, based onattractiveness and trustworthiness scales (Ohanian,1990). Attractiveness and trustworthiness scalesrevealed satisfactory Cronbachs alpha levels of 0.91and 0.90, respectively. Semantic differential scaleswere employed. SBL player, Hsin-An Chen, wasselected by participants as the most attractive andtrustworthy. Consequently, he was selected as thecelebrity athlete endorser for the study and his imagewas chosen as the unconditioned stimulus. Theconditioned stimulus was a photo of the fictitious event(the Marshall Basketball Event) in order to ensure thesporting event was neutral in affect. The same imagesof fictitious products used in Experiment 1 wereinterspersed in the slide show for Experiment 3.

Procedure and measuresThe design and procedure of Experiment 3 wasidentical to that of Experiment 1 with the ApolloBaseball Event replacing the Marshall Basketball Eventand Pen replacing Chen. The participants wererandomly assigned to the control group (40participants) and condition group (40 participants).

The experiment was conducted in the arena whereSBL games are held. Researchers set up a boothinside the arena close to one of the main entranceswhere spectators were invited to participate in thestudy and offered incentives. The participants wereinvited to the booth and informed that they wereparticipating in a sport marketing study on consumersresponses to advertisments. They were given a booklet


FACTOR DF SS F P-VALUE

CONDITIONING 1 5.74 5.94* 0.017

CONGRUENCE 1 0.37 0.38 0.539

CONDITIONING XCONGRUENCE 1 7.72 8.00* 0.006

ERROR 76 73.39

*P


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with instructions and questions to read andresearchers then showed them a slide presentation ona laptop. The rest of the procedure was identical toExperiment 1.

The dependent variable in this experiment wasattitude towards the event. The Cronbachs alpha ofthe attitude scale turned out to be satisfactory (0.91).All items were averaged to represent overall attitudetowards the event.

ResultsTable 3 reports means and standard deviations byconditions for 80 subjects. The mean of attitudetowards the event was 3.89 for the treatment group,compared to 3.08 for the control group. Thisdifference was statistically significant (t=3.27, p=.002). Results revealed that individuals exposed tothe systematic pairing of the event with the celebritydeveloped a more favourable attitude towards theevent than individuals in the control condition (nosystematic basketball event/celebrity pairing). Thissupported H1.

Experiment 4

The purpose of Experiment 4 was to test whetherconditioned attitude (the difference between treatmentcondition and control condition) towards a basketballevent was greater when there was a perceivedcongruence between the event and the celebrityendorser.

Participants and designA total of 80 SBL spectators (39 male and 41 female)participated in this experiment. This experimentaldesign was identical to Experiment 2. A pilot test of100 participants was performed prior to Experiment 4to choose a celebrity endorser considered to have highcongruence with the event and another considered tohave low congruence. The measure for perceivedcongruence was identical to Experiment 2 with asatisfactory Cronbachs alpha (.90). Results showedthat actor, Chen-Wu Kim, was identified as having lowcongruence with the sporting event. SBL player, Hsin-An Chen, was selected as having high congruencewith the sporting event. Both celebrities were readilyidentifiable to participants.

Stimuli and proceduresIn this experiment, a photo of Chen was chosen as theunconditioned stimulus for the high congruencetreatment group because of his athletic image. Kimwas chosen for the low congruence treatment groupdue to his lack of association to athletics. Allprocedures, and the measure of attitude towards theevent, were identical to Experiment 3.

Manipulation checkAnalysis for the high/low congruence manipulationrevealed that participants rated Chen as highlycongruent with the event (M=5.98) compared to Lao(M=3.01, t=13.21, p


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ResultsTable 4 shows a significant interaction betweencongruence and conditioning on attitude towards theevent (F=5.93, p=.017). Further analysis revealedthat in the high congruence groups (Chen withMarshall Basketball Event), the treatment group meanwas 4.21 and the control group mean was 3.12. Thisdifference was significant (t=3.41, p=.002). In thelow congruence groups (Kim with Marshall BasketballEvent), the treatment group mean was 3.58 and thecontrol group mean was 3.46. This difference was notsignificant. Thus, the interaction effect implies thatpairing of conditioned stimulus/unconditioned stimulusis more effective in the formation of a positive attitudetowards an event when congruence is high, whichsupports H2.

Discussion

This study investigates whether conditioning producesa more positive attitude towards a sporting event andwhether celebrity endorsers who are highly congruentwith the event have a stronger conditioning effect. Thefindings of Experiments 1 and 3 indicate that simplypairing a well-linked athlete celebrity with a sportingevent does positively impact attitude towards thesporting event. Repeated paired images of Pen withthe Apollo Baseball Event led to a significant increasein positive attitude towards that event. Similar resultsoccurred for repeated paired images of Chen with theMarshall Basketball Event. These findings areconsistent with the work of Till et al (2008), which

showed the same effect from using a celebrity as theunconditioned stimulus.

Furthermore, the results of Experiment 2 revealedthat using a celebrity who was highly matched withthe sporting event (Pen with the Apollo BaseballEvent) resulted in stronger conditioning than when thecelebrity was paired with a low-matching sportingevent (Lao with the Apollo Baseball Event). Similarresults were found in Experiment 4, whichdemonstrated a stronger conditioning effect whenChen was paired with the Marshall Basketball Event,than when Kim was paired with the MarshallBasketball Event. These findings were also similar tothe findings of Till et al.

Previous studies have attempted to investigatematch-up hypothesis (Charbonneau & Garland, 2006;Kamins, 1990; Kim & Na, 2007; Lynch & Schuler,1994; Till & Busler, 2000). They have determinedthat higher congruence between the endorser and theendorsed product results in better brand attitudes.However, they have not explained how congruencecan be made to work better in terms of formingconsumers attitudes towards products/services. Thisstudy investigates the mechanism of forming positiveattitudes towards sporting events and was specificallybased on McSweeney and Bierleys argument (1984).From a theoretical perspective, the researchers usedthe study to explain the underlying process for match-up hypothesis. Although other researchers haveexamined the concept of congruence for sportinggoods (e.g. Kim & Na, 2007), they have notuncovered the underlying process. This studydemonstrates that classical conditioning, one of the

FACTOR DF SS F P-VALUE

CONDITIONING 1 7.23 9.15* 0.003

CONGRUENCE 1 0.44 0.56 0.454

CONDITIONING X 1 4.69 5.93* 0.017

CONGRUENCE ERROR 76 0.79

*P


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most commonly used methods for associative learning,is a mechanism that can be used to explain theunderpinnings of the match-up hypothesis specificallyfor sporting events.

Whilst other researchers may have investigated howto choose an effective celebrity endorser for a womenssporting event (e.g. Cunningham et al, 2008), thisstudy shows how the interaction of conditioning andcongruence can explain the variance of positiveattitude towards a sporting event. Furthermore, thisstudy includes two different sports (baseball andbasketball) in order to ensure the external validity ofthe results. The study, therefore, complements existingliterature in the field of sport marketing. It also offerssport marketing practitioners some solid and soundconclusions on how to choose an effective celebrityendorser for a sporting event and how to make thatendorsement work more effectively. Specifically, itoffers a two-step practical guide. First, practitionersshould choose an endorser who is highly congruentwith their sporting event, based on attractiveness andtrustworthiness. Second, they should make repeatedand systematic pairings between the endorser and thesporting event in order to generate positive attitudestowards the event.

Breaking through advertising clutter is critical in ahighly-advertised environment such as sport. Anincreasing number of sporting events are taking placearound the world and those marketing these eventsmay seek to select appropriate celebrity endorsement.As a result of this study, sport marketers now have abasic understanding of why endorsement is moreeffective when a celebrity is paired properly with asporting event, than when inappropriately paired.Although marketing practitioners may already knowhow to choose a celebrity endorser who is highlycongruent with a sporting event, and about theimportance of repeated pairings between the endorserand the event, the current study provides them withscientific evidence to support those actions.

Limitations and future research

This study reveals that the conditioning effect isstronger when an endorser is highly congruent with asporting event. However, the underlying processesdriving the transfer of affect and beliefs are still notfully understood. Future studies should, therefore, seekfurther cognitive mechanisms to explain transfer ofaffect and beliefs and may replicate these experimentsin different sporting contexts. Finally, the levels ofconsumers involvement in sporting events should bea further area for future research, in order that theproper utilisation of celebrity endorsement for sportingevents can be further elucidated.

2012 International Marketing Reports

Biographies

Chen-Yueh Chen is Associate Professor in theDepartment of Athletic Sports at National ChungCheng University in Taiwan. His research interestsinclude sports consumer behaviour and sportsmanagement.

Yi-Hsiu Lin is Assistant Professor in the Department ofSport Management at Aletheia University in Taiwan.Her research interests include sports public relationsand sports marketing.

Chia-Lin Hsiaos research interests include leisure andtourism management.

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