Witty Celebrity-Endorsed Ads: Share and Share Alike

Actor George Clooney's 'What else?' slogan is arguably the most memorable piece of Nespresso Coffee's online advertising campaign. Like Clooney, an incredible number of celebrities now endorse a product or brand image. Viewers of the U.S.A.'s Super Bowl can attest to the public's fondness for humorous ads. This research is a preliminary investigation of how consumers react to a celebrity endorsement in an online humorous ad. The objective of this study is to highlight how humor influences consumer attitude, how it affects the likelihood of an ad going viral, and whether it encourages the consumer to share the ad on social media. Exploratory research provides answers to these questions.