科研成果详情

Celebrity endorsement is a popular tactic to promote brand images and advertise products. Traditionally, real human celebrities are often invited to endorse brands and products. However, virtual idols have recently become prevalent in the market as a new type of celebrity endorser due to their popularity and commercial value. Tobin and Zhou (2022) noted that, in recent years, virtual idols have been increasingly developed by entertainment companies in Asian countries, particularly China and Japan. In 2021, the commercial value created by virtual idols in China reached $16 billion. Lei (2019) postulated that the development of the domestic 2D industry opened up the market for virtual idols; the rise of the Internet and digital technology provided them with a carrier of communication and interaction; and the prevalence of participatory culture provided them with a continuous supply of content and potential consumer markets. Research has confirmed the effectiveness and persuasiveness of celebrity endorsements in advertising (Amos et al., 2008; Bergkvist and Zhou, 2016; Erdogan, 1999), but only a limited number of studies have attempted to investigate issues related to virtual idols or their commercial value. Most of these were conducted in the Japanese market and focused on the first virtual idol developed in Japan. For instance, a study by Le (2014) analyzed how Hatsune Miku, the first virtual idol, was developed, whereas Kobayashi and Taguchi (2019) discussed how the introduction of Hatsune Miku contributed to changes in Japan’s online content creation. Although Tobin and Zhou (2022) pointed out that China and Japan are the two main markets to have developed virtual idols, few empirical studies have addressed this topic in the Chinese context. Therefore, an analysis of the power of virtual idols in China is urgently needed to fill this research gap. In addition, the focus of our study is on youngsters as Shang (2020) noted that most followers of virtual idols belong to Generation Z (i.e., those born after 1995). Overall, this study aims to examine how young audience perceives the advertising effectiveness of endorsements by virtual idols in the context of different product involvement levels. An experimental study was conducted with 200 randomly selected young respondents in China in December 2022. Among them, the average age was 21.5 years. A total of 96 male and 104 female respondents participated in the experiment. The study shows that young audience holds a positive attitude toward virtual idols. Overall, they believe virtual idols are attractive, reliable, sincere and professional. Young audience tends to be more convinced by virtual idols’ endorsements of products with low levels of consumer Page 5 involvement than those with high levels of involvement in terms of their intention to purchase the products advertised by the virtual idols. In addition, young audience’s attitudes toward virtual idols mediate the impact of their attractiveness and credibility on audience attitudes toward the advertisements. The perceived level of product involvement moderates the transfer of meaning from the attitude toward the virtual idols to the attitude toward the advertisement.