Tiger Woods Nike ads dubbed "worst celeb endorsement of '10"

TIGER Woods was unsurprisingly named the worst celebrity endorsement of 2010, a US study has revealed.

The study, titled "Celebrity Advertisements: Exposing a Myth of Advertising Effectiveness", found Woods was the worst celebrity spokesman last year with his endorsement of Nike.

TV advertisements featuring Woods lifted the value of a campaign by minus 30 per cent, the study by Ace Metrix, who measure television advertising effectiveness, revealed.

The result follows a tumultuous year for the golf star who came under fire for a string of extramarital affairs which ended his marriage to Elin Nordegren.

The scandal prompted Procter & Gamble's Gillette brand to end its sponsorship agreement with Woods, following similar moves by AT&T, Accenture and Gatorade.

Cyclist Armstrong, who also had negative press in 2010 with accusations of doping by former teammate Floyd Landis, came in close second with minus 30 per cent lift in the value of his campaign for Radio Shack.

The study, which tested more than 2600 television ads in 2010, found the best endorsement was Peyton Manning, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts.

However Manning - who endorses Mastercard, Gatorade and Oreo cookies - only lifted value of a campaign by 1.5 per cent.

The study concluded that fewer than 12 per cent of ads using celebrities exceeded a 10 per cent lift versus average industry norms, and nearly 20 per cent of celebrity ads yielded negative lift scores in excess of 10 per cent.