Do consumers care about human brands?: A case study of using Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) to map two athletes’ engagements in social and political advocacy

ABSTRACTResearch Question We aimed to explore consumers’ perceptions of two athletes and athletes’ engagements in social and political advocacy.Research Methods We conducted 24 individual in-depth, unstructured interviews and applied Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) to reflect deeper feelings and thoughts of consumers and construct a perceptual map.Results and Findings Findings show how the actions of athletes contribute to the building and leveraging of their own brands – symbolic images and key associations of Michael Bennett and Jason Pierre-Paul. Findings reveal that lifestyle, relationship effort, and role model make a difference in creating unique brands. New categories emerged from the analysis of athlete advocacy: views toward advocacy, sport as platforms for advocacy, and ambassadors.Implications We offer unique methodological contributions to scholarship and distinctive associations of selected athletes and provide implications for both professionals and academics in sport.KEYWORDS: Athlete brandsbrand associationsZMETmetaphorathlete advocacy Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).