We Love or Hate When Celebrities Speak Up about Climate Change: Receptivity to Celebrity Involvement in Environmental Campaigns

This study investigates public receptivity to celebrity's climate change advocacy on YouTube through a semantic network analysis. The results of this study suggest that the YouTube video generated a number of viewers' responses. Celebrity endorsement not only leaded public voices on climate change issue, but also their opinions on the celebrity endorser. This study found that most of viewers were polarized in their judgment and attitude toward the celebrity advocate either positively or negatively. This study offers an exploratory examination of the perceived star power and the role of celebrities as spokespersons for social causes. This study contributes to the theoretical foundation of the role of celebrity advocacy using social media. In addition, this study offers methodological insights into how to detect public perceptions and attitudes toward celebrity endorsement of social causes by analyzing public comments.