And this is not a new phenomenon. Athletes like Babe Ruth endorsed tobacco products back in the day….except at that time they probably used the products too....but does that make it right? Do you think there is a difference between athletes and other celebrities endorsing junk food? Should athletes endorse foods known to be bad for you especially when they don’t use the product themselves? What impact does this have on consumers? Are consumers being tricked? Weigh in on this issue in the comments.
Consumers are definitely being tricked because they see all star athletes with a Big Mac in their hand so they think that if Lebron James can eat one and be so good at basketball, then I should be able to eat there and be fine as well. I feel that in today's time this method of using athletes to endorse junk food has slowed down dramatically. As people have become more health conscious they have realized that you can't eat junk food all the time and be healthy at the same time as well. You'll see more athletes in Gatorade commercials where they say that athletes use this drink to get energy back so you should too. Gatorade isn't the best thing for you either since it has so much sugar, but they have definitely moved from junk food into sports drinks and probably other areas. The general idea of using an athlete or celebrity to endorse a product is ingenious because at the end of the day a vast majority will be tricked into wanting the product since athlete X has it or celebrity Y was wearing it.
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