Almost 90 percent of Taiwanese think New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin (林書豪) would have the most clout when it came to endorsing charitable causes, according to a magazine poll released yesterday.
Asked what Lin, the first Taiwanese-American to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), would be best at promoting, 88.6 percent of respondents answered charitable causes, according to a Global Views Monthly poll.
Among non-habitual donors taking part in the survey, 51.4 percent said they would start making donations or volunteering for causes endorsed by Lin, who went from being a benchwarmer a few months ago to one of the hottest rising stars in the NBA.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Out of the 89.1 percent polled who said they knew who Lin was, 76.3 percent said they liked him primarily because he was not afraid to fail and he was always ready to face a challenge.
Endorsement offers have been flooding in for Lin, who helped turned around the Knicks’ fortunes as they went on a season-best winning streak last month with him as a starter, including offers from local tire maker Maxxis as well as Master Kong, the largest instant noodle brand in China.
Among the other endorsement categories that might best suit Lin, 58.6 percent of those polled said beverages, followed by health food products at 49.6 percent, tourism (47.3 percent), cellphones (46 percent) and cars (37.5 percent).
Meanwhile, close to 80 percent of those polled touted Lin as the pride of ethnic Chinese, while 71.7 percent saw Lin as the pride of Taiwanese, compared with 49.9 percent who said Lin was the pride of the US.
The telephone poll was conducted between Tuesday and Thursday among 1,008 respondents aged 18 and older.
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