Gatorade, a widely popular sports drink, is a company that has mastered the use of athletes in advertising. They currently advertise with the faces of over twenty-four athletes including tennis player Serena Williams, baseball player Derek Jeter, basketball player Michael Jordan, soccer player Landan Donovan, football players and brothers Eli and Peyton Manning, snowboarder Ellery Hollignsworth, and volleyball player Kerri Walsh. Their newest ad slogan, “Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee”, introduces their new line of low calorie “G2” sports drinks. On the Gatorade Web site is a three-step system for which Gatorade is beneficial for athletes and people who like to play hard. Firstly prime, followed by perform, finishing with recover. These three steps, as any athlete knows, are vital to performance; through this advertising campaign we see how Gatorade is targeting the general public who strives to be like any professional athlete.
Nike, an athletic clothing and shoe brand, features over 75 athletes mainly from the NBA. Nike advertises with their athletes a little differently than other brands. Instead of featuring athletes in commercials or on billboards, they place their products on athletes during practice, games, matches, and press conferences, so that when the public tunes into view a sporting event, they see the product that Nike had so skillfully placed.
