Is Authenticity Important in the Future of Marketing?
Future of Marketing Institute
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Is Authenticity Important in the Future of Marketing?
Ever since I began my career as a marketing professor in 1985, I have been telling students about the importance of having an?authentic?spokesperson for their brand.? Organizations have to be mindful of choosing a spokesperson that conveys the same message and values as the brand.?
However, in recent years I have begun to reassess the importance of having an authentic spokesperson.? This is due to the rise of computer-generated?virtual influencers.? These CGI creations, like?Lil Miquela , have millions of followers on social media and they act just like real people. CGI influencers post pictures from vacations, walk the red carpet, hang out with friends, go to dinner, and talk about their failed relationships and dreams.??
CGI influencers post pictures from vacations, walk the red carpet, hang out with friends and even talk about their failed relationships.
Some of these computer creations, such as Lil Miquela, look cartoonish.??However, some CGI influencers such as virtual super-model?Shudu ?and?Bermudaisbae ?are photorealistic and it is difficult to tell that they are not real.?
These examples are just the tip of a fast-growing industry.??There are literally?hundreds of CGI influencers ?and they are being used with increasing frequency by companies and brands.??The most popular CGI influencer,?Lu do Magalu (Brazil) has over 24 million followers!
But, how authentic are these CGI influencers???These computer programs portray themselves?as real people, with real-life scenarios and problems.??For example, a KFC CGI nicknamed?Sexy Colonel Sanders ?posted about the grind of his “hectic schedule” and how he recharges on a Casper mattress.
To state the obvious, CGI Influencers don’t have jobs, and the last time I checked, computers don’t need sleep.??Virtual influencers don’t have taste buds so they can’t tell you that a new soda tastes great.??They lack skin cells so they can’t honestly say that the moisturizer “feels great” on their skin. They don’t clean their houses or drink Dr. Pepper. Yet, these are the exact messages that CGI influencers have told their followers recently.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)?regulation states that “Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser. When the advertisement represents that the endorser uses the endorsed product, the endorser must have been a bona fide user of it at the time the endorsement was given.”
Do CGI Influencers come under this category and regulation? We don’t yet have an answer to that. Until the FTC takes an authoritative role in regulating the rapidly growing CGI social media influencer industry, millions of consumers remain vulnerable and susceptible to the dangers posed by CGI influencers’ false and deceptive advertising practices.
Furthermore, this inauthentic communication extends beyond statements concerning brand usage.??In an attempt to increase engagement and interest, CGI influencers also talk about their ‘supposed’ life experiences.??For example, Lil Miquela posted about how she was?sexually assaulted ?in a ride-share.??This post raises significant ethical concerns, as there is nothing authentic about a computer program claiming to be a victim of assault.?
In the future, the problem of authenticity will likely get worse with the emergence of the Metaverse.??When we walk around Metaverse virtual worlds, we will most likely meet avatars that appear human.??Yet, they will actually be advanced CGI avatars that look and sound real.??Without a doubt, these virtual influencers will attempt to sell us goods and services, as that is the way of the marketer. These influencers will not be authentic, but I think they will be effective.
How important is authenticity in the future of marketing???The jury is out on that one.??
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Dr. David Rice ?is a Professor and Executive Director of the?Future of Marketing Institute .
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Media Operations Specialist | Masters of Marketing (MMKG) - Schulich School of Business
2 年Although these influencers may be effective as mentioned in this article, they are not authentic, so how can people trust a non-authentic review which is not from an actual human being? It got me overthinking, how they have these numbers of followers and people taking their "advice" while the advice they give is all a lie, it doesn't even exist. As much as I'm a person who is really interested in the Metaverse and read into it a lot, this post raised my awareness and drew my attention to how the Metaverse will encourage non-authentic influencers and what's worse is that we will not know what spokesperson to trust!
Digital and Social Media Strategist, LinkedIn Learning Instructor, Digital Marketing Professor, AI Research
2 年If you think about superheroes from comics or the movies, or characters in our favourite shows, it makes sense that people would be attracted to virtual influencers. The difference? We know who (or what) is real and who isn't. And the transparency and disclosure are key. For instance, the FCC and Ad Standards Canada requires influencers to disclose sponsored content. Like you, I think they should go a step further and require virtual influencers to disclose they're not people. Thanks, M. David Rice. Always a thought-provoking read!