ABSTRACT

The use of celebrity athlete endorsers is prevalent in modern marketing strategy. Researchers have touted the benefits of using celebrities in advertising as a way to break through marketing clutter and create positive associations with a brand, product, or service. Although many of today’s male celebrity athletes profit greatly from this form of promotion, advertisers have been far less generous in extending these same opportunities to women celebrity athletes. This chapter utilizes classic endorsement theories and models to examine the obstacles faced by celebrity sportswomen. The traits within the source credibility and source attractiveness model are outlined to show the disadvantages women face due to outdated and unsuitable marketing practices. The transfer of meaning theory and match-up hypothesis are discussed to show the difficulties incurred by women athletes to establish and develop large-scale marketing relevance, obstacles not faced by many of their male counterparts. Suggestions are provided to encourage marketers to rethink how they can fully utilize women athletes to create significant change to this important aspect of the business of women’s sport.