How can I add a sprite to gameobject to make the gameobject highlight?

Question

When I'm running the game and then moving the mouse cursor over the menu it's highlighting it with some blue color: In the screenshot the OPTIONS is highlight.

Now I want to use the same highlight sprite to highlight the word THE in white at the top in the screenshot but to make it highlight all the time without the mouse cursor.

I have New Text in the Hierarchy and in the Assets I have Select and Select is the sprite I want to highlight with the word THE:

I tried to add a Sprite Renderer component to the New Text but the New Text have already a Mesh Renderer so I can't add the Sprite Renderer.

Answer 1

Copy your already existing highlight sprite, then paste it as a child to the object that holds the word "THE". Change it's position values so that it is correctly placed behind the text. Resize as desired.

Remember: One object cannot have multiple ways to draw graphics, you can however add as many children as you want to that object, and each child can have it's own graphics.