Athlete endorsement and nationality: Is there a world cup effect?

Abstract

This research considers whether attributes such as the nationality of athlete endorsers and their physical and emotional characteristics have an impact on how appealing, credible, and relevant an advertising message is to a country’s national audience. Using rugby athletes, the study assesses the impact of these attributes on respondents’ ad preference and purchasing intention across two distinct periods: during and after the rugby world cup. The results indicate that congruence of national identity between audience and endorser leads to a more positive assessment of the endorsement and a high intention to purchase by the audience across both time periods but that both ad preference and purchase intentions are higher during a mega event period.