Endorsement Agreements: the exploitation of the athletes’ image

Abstract

Despite the fact that in Europe the agents of the most successful athletes prefer focusing their job on intermediation, endorsement agreements are becoming increasingly important.

First, the article explains how endorsement agreements differ from best-known contracts such as sponsorship and merchandising. Subsequently, after pinpointing the different types of endorsements, the study focuses on brand association and its unique traits in the social media era. According to a new trend that has recently emerged, athletes began to ask for shares and stocks in exchange for the use of their image.

After analyzing the rules of the different federation that limit the use of endorsement agreements, including Rule 40 of the IOC, the article pays particular attention to the various provisions of this type of contract, most notably the suitability clause and the moral clause, which allows brands to depart from their endorsers in response to a scandal.