Athletes in Advertisements

From sports drinks and sneakers to televisions and cable service, companies often choose athletes to promote their products.  Why not capitalize on the opportunity to associate a product or service with an athlete who has a built-in following of thousands or millions of people?  However, choosing an athlete to promote a product can have its issues.  Some athletes can be dynamic on-screen talents.  Others not so much.  Think of Peyton Manning vs. Eli Manning.  Peyton is charismatic and likeable as he explains how to throw a football for Gatorade, shows off NFL Sunday Ticket for DIRECTV, and cheers on the local butcher to “cut that meat” for Mastercard.  A recent Samsung commercial is just one example of Peyton’s brother falling short.  The words stiff and awkward come to mind when describing Eli’s performance.

What can a producer do to make an athlete look and sound better on screen?  The first thing is to tell the athlete to act natural and speak as they normally would.  The goal is for the athlete to be conversational, as opposed to the monotone delivery we often see.  If the athlete still sounds like a robot, you can tell him or her to pay attention to the enunciation of certain words, which will hopefully create some vocal variety.  The important thing to know is with the right direction, athletes can improve as television personalities.  While part of on-screen performance comes from natural ability, experience and comfort in front of the camera will greatly improve the sound and look of these athletes in advertisements.

By:

Alex Campbell

Fall 2011 Intern

University of Delaware, Communication