The word ‘influencer’ is simultaneously an insult and an aspiration.

It’s the future of marketing, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a brand that hasn’t elicited the help of some trendy 20-something with a few thousand followers to carefully unbox their product while rambling on about it in a two-minute Instagram video.

Even the Pope got with the trend, when he referred to the Virgin Mary as ‘an influencer’, for some reason.

In fact, he called her the “first influencer” and if the new wave of influencers is anything to go on, he might not be wrong.

Much like the Virgin, some of the most popular influencers on the ‘gram at the moment aren’t able to move around in the real world, or interact with their followers outside of the internet.

The Huffington Post explains:

“Sexy Colonel Sanders,” as he has come to be known, is a computer-generated marketing gimmick operated by KFC to promote its fried chicken (though he has scored outside brand deals, too). Lifelike in appearance, he’s among a growing number of so-called “CGI influencers” who shill everything from apparel to cupcakes to exotic birds.

Some are run by ad agencies and are not tied to any one brand, while others are run by brands themselves. Balmain even created its own “virtual army” to model its clothing.

Just like their human counterparts, CGI influencers post selfies and memes, use popular slang, and divulge “personal information” to their followers.

Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Blawko22:

Blawko is a computer-generated influencer who often “tries products”, like tacos, and give his opinion on them. He also does crossovers with Lil Miquela, probably the most famous CGI influencer on Instagram at the moment.

Lil Miquela

Miquela is the digital brainchild of Los Angeles-based start-up Brud, and portrays the carefully curated life of a teenage starlet on Instagram.

Though she has admitted to being a “robot,” in between her sponsored posts for Calvin Klein, Prada and other luxury brands, she regularly confides in her 1.9 million followers about deeply human experiences: being bullied, drama with her friends, her dating life and even being sexually assaulted during a Lyft ride — a stunt that drew backlash against Brud for making light of a serious issue.

Lil Miquela made headlines last year for the CGI/ real-life crossover where she “kissed’ Bella Hadid.

Her Instagram feed looks much the same as any other influencer. Many of the videos are designed to look spontaneous, in an attempt to humanise her:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

😘 @rosalia.vt

A post shared by Miquela (@lilmiquela) on Jan 19, 2020 at 3:52pm PST

Other virtual influencers include Shudu, a CGI model who did a campaign for Rihanna’s makeup line last year.

While this all seems like harmless fun, a lot of people are starting to question the ethics of fake influencing.

Here’s the problem – a lot of people don’t seem to be able to tell the difference between a real and CGI influencer.

In fact, 42% of millennials and Gen-Zers have followed an influencer on Instagram without realizing that he or she is computer-generated, according to social media consultancy firm Fullscreen, which surveyed 534 Instagram users between the ages of 13 and 34 in 2019. Fifty-five percent have made a purchase as a result of following a CGI influencer, while 53% have followed a brand and 52% have researched a brand.

These people assume that the influencer has actually tried the product that he or she is trying to sell.

Mukta Chowdhary, director of strategy and cultural forecasting at Fullscreen, sums it up quite nicely, using Miquela as an example:

“I think part of the reason human influencers became so popular is that their fans really trust them and trust their taste,” she said. “Miquela doesn’t have taste. She doesn’t have free will; she’s not human. But it’s easy to forget that.”

You heard it here first, influencers.

Miquela is coming for your jobs.

[source:huffingtonpost]