Celebrity endorsements have long been used as a source of marketing messages to promote a wide variety of products and services. Companies have been spending huge amounts of money to have athletes and other celebrities endorse both sports and non-sports products. Celebrity images can be found in print, radio, and approximately 20 percent of all television commercials (Boyd and Shank 2004). Within a relatively short time, the amount of money spent on athletes in advertising has skyrocketed. In 1986, companies paid approximately $100 million for endorsements, licensing rights, and advertising (Peetz, Parks, and Spencer 2004). Ten years later, that amount had risen to more than $1 billion, as athlete endorsement expenditures have hovered around $1 billion dollars annually for the past ten years (Peetz, Parks, and Spencer 2004).

　　The actions of athletic products manufacturer Nike underscores the nature of spending on athlete endorsements. During an eight-month period in 2004, Nike invested $192 million in endorsement deals with National Basketball Association (NBA) rookies Lebron James ($90 million) and Carmello Anthony ($15 million); NBA star Kobe Bryant ($45 million); tennis star Serena Williams ($40 million); 14-year old U.S. soccer talent Freddy Adu ($1 million); and Canadian world champion hurdler Perdita Felicien ($1 million). These were deals within an eight-month timeframe and did not take into account existing deals with golfer Tiger Woods, National Football League player Michael Vick (currently serving a prison sentence and suspended by the NFL), Major League Baseball’s Derek Jeter, track’s Marion Jones (another athlete who recently admitted to drug use and had her 2000 Olympic medals stripped), and soccer’s Mia Hamm (Thomaselli 2004).

　　As a result of the pervasiveness of celebrity endorsement in advertising, much has been studied and written about this phenomenon over the past several years (for recent examples, see Bailey 2007; Biswas, Biswas, and Das 2006; Thomson 2006). The studies have explored a number of issues related to such factors as the relative effectiveness of celebrity endorsers in advertising, the factors that impact consumer response to celebrity endorsers, and, more recently, the consequences of negative information or publicity surrounding a celebrity endorser (for example, Bailey 2007; Louie and Obermiller 2002; Silvera and Austad 2004; Till and Shimp 1998). The introductory quote from Peetz, Parks, and Spencer (2004) encapsulates the reasons that marketers have been using celebrities as endorsers, while Jones and Schumann (2000) underscore that there is a high price tag attached to this endeavor.

　　Although the use of athletes as endorsers and the amount of money spent on these endorsers is increasing, there still remains much to be learned about how consumers perceive athlete endorsers and the variables that influence endorser effectiveness. More specifically, we know little about the impact of gender—both gender of the consumer and gender of the endorser—on consumers’ attitudes and perceptions. The study seeks to determine whether the gender of the consumer who is exposed to a celebrity endorsement will impact how that consumer views a male or female celebrity endorser. The paper is organized as follows: First, background information on celebrity endorsement is presented and testable hypotheses are developed. We then provide details of an experimental study that was undertaken to test these hypotheses. The results of the experiment are presented and these findings are discussed. Finally, the study’s limitations are highlighted and avenues for future research are suggested.