| The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to the recognition of professional athletes and the sport specific products and non-sport specific products they endorsed among middle school, high school, and college students throughout the United States. The survey instrument was developed by the researcher and distributed to 36 middle schools, 36 high schools, and 36 colleges among 12 metropolitan cities throughout the United States. A total of 2,304 questionnaires were mailed to 108 educational institutions, 1,605 (70%) were returned, of which 1,223 (53%) were usable for this study.;The questionnaire was divided into four parts. Part I provided information on the young consumer's recognition of the sport played by the professional athletes selected in this study. Questions 2 and 3 sought to determine the young consumers' recognition of athletic and non-athletic products endorsed by professional athletes. Research Question 4 examined the young consumers' purchasing behavior of athletic and non-athletic products.;The results of this study revealed that young consumers had a high recognition of the sport played by the professional athletes selected for this study. Young consumers were limited in their recognition of athletic and non-athletic products endorsed by the professional athletes. In addition, the respondents had a higher recognition of athletic products than non-athletic products professional athletes endorsed. The subjects in the study had a higher recognition of athletic and non-athletic products endorsed by professional basketball players than all athletes in this study. Furthermore, female professional athletes received the lowest recognition among the professional athletes in this study. Finally, the respondents do not believe that they were more likely to purchase products that are endorsed by professional athletes.;According to Turner et al. (1995), young consumers that admire athletes in the sport arena may transfer this admiration when viewing their "hero" promoting a certain product. However, corporations that employ professional athletes to endorse products to increase product image, product association, or to increase sales do so at the risk that young consumers may not transfer the recognizability from the athlete to the product and from the product to the consumer. |
