Too pretty to resist? Exploring the impact of virtual influencers’ beauty level on consumer reactions

Hui Xia, Yuqing Yang and Xinchun Wang

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2025, vol. 87, issue C

Abstract: Advancements in computer-generated imagery technology and style generative adversarial network models have enabled the creation of virtual influencers with captivating and visually appealing attributes. Prior literature has provided substantial insights into how the anthropomorphic design of virtual personas affects consumer perceptions. However, few studies have examined the impact of beauty level on consumer psychology and behaviour. Contrary to conventional wisdom suggesting that greater beauty may significantly heighten perceived threat, this study proposes that virtual influencers with high-beauty traits do not necessarily induce perceived appearance threat. Instead, such traits enhance consumers’ appearance response efficacy, thereby significantly increasing purchase intention and reducing psychological distance. Using four experimental studies, we find strong support for this proposition. Our finding also reveal that appearance-related product functional types moderate this mechanism. Specifically, products with intrinsic aesthetic functions enhance the positive effect of high-beauty traits on purchase intention and psychological distance. These findings underscore that, in the context of virtual influencers, consumers prioritize intrinsic aesthetic appeal over parasomatic considerations. This research adds to the literature concerning virtual influencer marketing effectiveness and offers practical insights into developing and managing virtual influencer marketing strategies.

Keywords: Virtual influencer; Beauty level; Protection motivation theory; Appearance response efficacy; Appearance-related product (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096969892500150X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:87:y:2025:i:c:s096969892500150x

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104371

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services is currently edited by Harry Timmermans

More articles in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().