Born for marketing? The effects of virtual versus human influencers on brand endorsement effectiveness: The role of advertising recognition

The development of artificial intelligence technology has led to the creation of virtual influencers that have been embraced by marketing professionals. Starting with advertising recognition, a variable that directly affects marketing effectiveness, this study investigates whether virtual influencers lead to different levels of ad recognition among consumers from human influencers. The present study's three experiments demonstrate that (1) compared to human influencers, virtual influencers have a significantly greater impact on consumers' identification of advertisements; (2) the impact of influencer type on consumers' brand attitudes is mediated by the their advertising recognition; (3) the level of consumers' perceived sensory capacity of virtual influencers negatively moderates the effect of virtual influencer's post on consumers' advertising recognition. These research findings have significance for developing virtual influencer marketing in practice.