Impact of visual appeals and brand ambassador in online food advertising on consumer purchase behaviour

Purpose The purpose of this article is to examine the independent and combined effects of celebrity image and visual appeals presented in online food advertising on consumer purchase behaviour. Design/methodology/approach A single-factorial, between-subjects experimental design was used to compare the effects of two ads with specific appeals and a control ad as part of a real-world advertising campaign on the Facebook profiles of residents of a large Brazilian metropolitan region. The data were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc tests, covering a total observation period of 160 days and 785,705 impressions. Findings The results show an increase in purchase intention when consumers are exposed to social media ads consisting of associations of images with warm colours and close-ups (pornfood) and the presence of the brand ambassador. However, only strong visual appeals are relevant for increasing actual purchases. Excessive information can therefore increase consumer attention and interest but decrease purchases, suggesting the need to take into account the consumer’s cognitive limits for absorbing exposed information. Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need to investigate how the combined impact of visuals and brand ambassadors influences consumer decision-making. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-03-2024-0208