Sentimental Interaction with Virtual Celebrities: An Assessment from Customer-Generated Content

Celebrity endorsement is undoubtedly an investment that can produce both good returns and bad losses. However, compared to the knowledge about human being agents, little is known about virtual celebrities. Therefore, this chapter aimed to examine (1) the perceptions of virtual celebrities and (2) the effect that a virtual figure can have as an endorser of a certain product. Two studies were implemented to achieve these purposes. The first study found that viewer perception of the virtual figures was a combination of both the positive and negative sentiments. The perceived authenticity of the figures played an important part in this impression. In addition, the second study found that the sentiments dedicated to the figures could have some impact on customers’ overall satisfaction with the products endorsed by these figures. In summary, both studies suggested that the sentiments toward, and thus, the parasocial interaction with a virtual celebrity of the viewers and customers varied across the specific virtual celebrity types (artificial figure and dead human figure), the markets where the products are sold, and probably the life cycles of the products. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for future studies, were discussed.