Background: The COVID-19 crisis has had, from an economic perspective, a direct impact on businesses that rely on travel leisure. Within the latter, airlines have a strategic position. In response to this unfortunate situation, various European airlines launched COVID-19 themed corporate crisis advertisements. However, there is still limited knowledge about consumers' attitudes towards using such tools in a global crisis setting.

Purpose: The purpose of this study aimed to explore what factors impact attitudes of European consumers towards COVID-19 themed corporate crisis advertisements published by European airlines.

Method: The study was based on the framework from Kim (2013) and followed a qualitative exploration through semi-structured interviews.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that six different factors impact the attitudes towards the respective advertisements through reactance and inoculation. Additionally, we present suggestions for the further development of the framework from Kim (2013). We hope that our findings contribute to practical insights, enabling practitioners to assess their use of corporate advertisements throughout a global crisis.