Sports-drink marketer Gatorade is capitalizing on China's love of basketball by using Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade as the company's celebrity endorser on ads that run there. Wade's picture has been
slapped on 20 million bottles of Gatorade in China since July 1. The star guard will also appear in TV spots for the sports drink. The campaign is tied into an event scheduled for next week, in which
Wade and other top American players face off against the Chinese national team in Guangzhou. The company chose Wade because he was "high performing," Gatorade spokeswoman Lisa Claybon said. The ads
are part of a multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal between Wade and Gatorade. Wade was voted the most valuable player on the Heat's NBA championship team. She said Gatorade has used other basketball
players on its bottles in other countries, including Yao Ming in China, Vince Carter in the Philippines and Eduardo Najera in Mexico.
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