ABSTRACT
Since 2006, Hollywood actor George Clooney has served as a 'Global Ambassador' for Nespresso, appearing in a series of advertisements for the Nestlé-owned company. This chapter explains what is at stake in the pairing of a multi-million dollar coffee brand with a celebrity activist like Clooney. Through close analysis of these advertisements and a range of film and publicity texts, it considers the tensions that exist between Clooney’s reputation as one of the most respected humanitarians in Hollywood and his work to promote Nespresso. The chapter begins by examining what the involvement of Clooney communicates about the coffee brand. This section looks in detail at Nespresso’s branding as an ‘ethical’ company and the role that Clooney plays in furthering these promotional claims, arguing that his brand ambassadorship draws on the moral authority he has accrued through his charitable and political campaigning. A second section explores the complex ways in which Clooney’s Nespresso endorsement intersects with his appearances in anti-corporate films such as Up in the Air (2009) and Michael Clayton (2007). At each stage of the analysis, the chapter is concerned with how such tensions are resolved and to what extent this works to reproduce hegemonic capitalist inequality.
