Endorsement and promoting sport and physical activity to young people: exploring gender and the career status of athlete endorsers

Figures & data

Figure 1. Experimental design.

Figure 2. Mock advertisements.

Table 1. Questionnaire items.

Demographics	Year of birth Gender Ethnicity
Involvement in Sport and Physical Activity (SPA) (Beaton et al., 2011) Seven-point scale, Strongly Disagree–Strongly Agree	I find a lot of my life organised around SPA SPA play a central role in my life I enjoy discussing S & PA with others SPA say a lot about who I am SPA tell something about me SPA give others a glimpse of the type of person I am SPA are fun SPA are among the most satisfying things I do I really enjoy playing sport and being physical active
Attitude towards the campaign (Till & Busler, 2000) Seven-point scales	How would you describe the campaign? Bad … . Good Unfavourable … . Favourable Unpleasant … Pleasant Negative … Positive
SPA Participation Intentions (Till & Busler, 2000) Seven-point scales	How likely is it that you would increase your current level of SPA as a result of this campaign? Unlikely … Likely Definitely would not … Definitely would Improbable … Probable
Gender Fit (Fleck et al., 2012; Till & Busler, 2000) Seven-point scales	As an endorser for this campaign, I think a (female) athlete is: Inappropriate … Appropriate Ineffective … Effective Rate the extent that you agree or disagree with the following statements: The campaign and a (female) athlete endorser do well together This campaign is well matched with a (female) athlete endorser
Career Status Fit (Fleck et al., 2012; Till & Busler, 2000) Seven-point scales	As an endorser for this campaign, I think a (current) athlete is: Inappropriate … Appropriate Ineffective … Effective Rate the extent that you agree or disagree with the following statements: The campaign and a (current) athlete endorser do well together This campaign is well matched with a (current) athlete endorser

Table 2. Adjusted means – gender interaction.

Participant’s gender	Endorser gender	Adj. Mean*	Std. Error	95% CI
				Lower bound	Upper bound
Male	Male	4.50	.10	4.29	4.70
	Female	4.78	.10	4.59	4.98
Female	Male	4.03	.10	3.83	4.24
	Female	4.99	.11	4.78	5.20

*Covariates appearing in the model are evaluated at the following values: Involvement = 4.412415.

Figure 3. Endorser–participant gender interaction.

Table 3. Adjusted means – career status fit.

Participants’ gender	Endorser gender	N	Adj. Mean*	Std. Error	95% CI
					Lower bound	Upper bound
Male	Male	97	4.83	.11	4.60	5.06
	Female	105	5.10	.11	4.88	5.31
Female	Male	95	4.86	.12	4.63	5.09
	Female	95	5.19	.12	4.96	5.42

*Covariates appearing in the model are evaluated at the following values: Involvement = 4.412415.

Table 4. Multiple regressions in three picked points.

	Coefficients	Std. error coefficients	t	Sig.	95% Confidence interval for B
					Lower bound	Upper bound
PP1	−.17	.16	−1.05	.29	−.49	.15
PP2	.07	.11	.66	.51	−.15	.30
PP3	.32	.16	1.98	.048	.00	.64

Table 5. Summary of hypotheses.

No.	Hypothesis	Supported?
1.	Attitude towards a social marketing campaign promoting sport and physical activity is more positive with a female celebrity athlete endorser than a male celebrity athlete endorser.	No
2.	Participation intention related to a social marketing campaign promoting sport and physical activity is higher with a female celebrity athlete endorser than a male celebrity athlete endorser.	No
3	Perception of gender fit is higher for a social marketing campaign promoting sport and physical activity with a female celebrity athlete endorser than a male celebrity athlete endorser.	Yes
4.	Female participants have a more positive attitude towards an endorsed social marketing campaign promoting sport and physical activity than male participants.	No
5.	Female participants have higher participation intention related to an endorsed social marketing campaign promoting sport and physical activity than male participants.	No
6.	Perception of gender fit is higher when the gender of the celebrity athlete endorser matches the gender of the participant.	Partial
7.	Attitude towards a social marketing campaign promoting sport and physical activity is more positive with a former athlete rather than a current athlete as a celebrity endorser.	No
8.	Participation intention related to a social marketing campaign promoting sport and physical activity is higher with a former athlete rather than a current athlete as a celebrity endorser.	No
9.	Perception of career status fit is higher for a social marketing campaign promoting sport and physical activity with a former athlete than a current athlete as a celebrity endorser.	Partial

Beaton, A. A., Funk, D. C., Ridinger, L., & Jordan, J. (2011). Sport involvement: A conceptual and empirical analysis. Sport Management Review, 14(2), 126–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2010.07.002

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Till, B. D., & Busler, M. (2000). The match-up hypothesis: Physical attractiveness, expertise, and the role of fit on brand attitude, purchase intent and brand beliefs. Journal of Advertising, 29(3), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2000.10673613

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Fleck, N., Korchia, M., & Le Roy, I. (2012). Celebrities in advertising: Looking for congruence or likability? Psychology & Marketing, 29(9), 651–662. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20551

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