Paper short abstract:

The rise of virtual influencers in social media marketing around the world has entered contemporary consumer life, becoming one of the significant shifts in the post-human world. This paper aims to explore the relationship between virtual influencers and cultural-based studies of images.

Paper long abstract:

Amid the sweeping technological transformations of recent decades, the rise of virtual influencers, computer-generated characters that are designed to attract followers and 'likes', in social media marketing around the world has entered contemporary consumer life, becoming one of the significant shifts in the post-human world. This paper aims to address the need to bring the phenomenon into the light and to stimulate interest in theoretically and empirically grounded in debate about it. It also aims to explore the relationship between virtual influencers and cultural-based studies of images. The purpose of this paper is to address the question: do these images form a basis for sites of social interaction amongst informants or between researched and researcher?

The body of this paper consists of four sections. The first section briefly describes computer-generated imagery (CGI). The second section introduces the concept of virtual influencers. The third section is devoted to presenting a case study of popular Instagram virtual influencers. The fourth and final section highlights the discussion of theoretical and practical implications. By employing a diversity of possible modes in which virtual influencers are designed, and their Instagram images are produced, consumed, and negotiated, the paper argues that the phenomena is a useful tool for providing critical insights into the swiftly shifting landscape of digital visual anthropology and aspects of ethnographic knowledge and methodological tools.