Do athletes make a difference?

A lot of the commercials now have athletes advertising their product. For example, Gatorade has many athletes in their commercials. Normally when I watch things like that, I think to myslef "Well I'm not going to drink Gatorade because Kevin Garnette does. I'm going to drink it because it tastes good." I usually think that the athletes presence in a commercial isn't going to change my mind. It isn't going to make me want to drink Gatorade that much more.
I can however see why they use athletes. Younger kids that want to play in the NFL and the NBA look up to those players and want to be like them. So when those young kids see the commercials with their heros in them, then they are going to want to drink Gatorade because their hero does. So they are roping in the younger crowd.

Do you think athletes presence in commercials make a difference? Would companies do as well without them?

In response to Cory's "Mascots are creepy."

I think that mascots are for both kids and adults. Kids when they think of the Red Soxs, they might get the image of Wally and for them Wally is fun. Sometimes they get high fives from them or get their picture taken. They definently provide comidy for adults. I think their biggest reason for being is to give the team and image. When people see the Red Soxs they see Wally and vise versa.