Virtual influencers, when an avatar becomes someone to admire

Computer animation, artificial intelligence, robotics..We are used to constant news about their new achievements, but what would you think if we told you that there are avatars whose image is valued at 125 million dollars ? Welcome to the era of virtual influencers . Related

These are characters created by CGI and are becoming fashion icons and lifestyle. They live on social networks like Instagram, where they show their daily actions and have started to accumulate thousands of followers.

Brands love them

Social experiment, technological challenge or, basically, marketing instrument. Because brands like Diesel, Prada or Adidas have good reasons to worship virtual influencers :

They are new specimens, are striking and generate curiosity in the users.They give the brand a fresher image.
Connect with the youngest , accustomed to the eSports in which they create their own avatar and interact with other virtual characters.
They allow to create an idealized world , in accordance with the image that the brand wants to sell.A life of luxury, adventure, fun...
They can do any action (and all do well).From parachute to surf.
The technological development has lowered costs .Creating them is not too difficult.For example, an app like Toonstar allows you to design custom virtual characters.
Most importantly, virtual influencers will never get into trouble or make inappropriate statements .Brands spend millions on hiring stars.The wrong doing of a celebrity capricious can make them lose their investment.Instead, behind these virtual influencers there is a great production team, each taking care of their steps.

Lights and shadows

Are we surprised by this new fashion? For some, admiring this type of avatars is a natural evolution.We are all followers of fictional characters , such as comic superheroes or series protagonists (who even sometimes resemble the life of actor, as he is expected to act as his character).

They are not real, but many human influencers are constantly accused of that.They show situations and sell a lifestyle based on false happiness. We might wonder what it is less moral: follow a person who lies about his life or a character we already know has been created by a company?

Since the emergence of tools like Photoshop we have become accustomed to manipulate our image . smartphones incorporate beauty filters in their cameras...The photos we publish can be manipulated and lose their spontaneity.

One of the characteristics of these virtual influencers is that do not age , they keep a fresh image.They also will not become broken toys when they have gone out of style.? What will happen when artificial intelligence is more developed?

But the problem with these avatars is that they standardize even more the beauty stereotypes that are so criticized in advertising .Many teenagers (and adults) may feel pressured to achieve some canons that simply are impossible because they don't even belong to flesh and blood beings.

In addition, for many users, authenticity is a value .An avatar, however hyperrealistic it may be, can cause the message to lose its naturalness.

The most famous virtual influencers

Lil Miquela is the most important influencer in the virtual universe.She is a 19-year-old model who lives in LosAngeles and has Spanish-Brazilian roots.He has also made his first steps in the music world, in Spotify we can hear him sing 'Mine Mine'.He not only cares about the fashion world, but is also LGTBI rights activist Y supports the Black Lives Matter movement.

On her Instagram, we see her wearing branded clothes, but also enjoy with her friends (other virtual nfluencers ) or be accompanied by celebrities like the same Carlos of England.

All this is not decided by her, of course.Lil Miquela (with more than a million and a half followers) has been created by the agency Brud.It is a company that uses robotics in marketing actions . When I launched Lil Miquela in 2016, I played with the users for a while, without explaining whether it was real or not.

One of Miquela's best friends is Bermuda.Rubia and with blue eyes, her most classic style represents American traditionalism.Miquela and Bermuda share many photographs, but also a story in common.

Y is that Bermuda hacked Lil Miquela's account after fighting with her .Fortunately for her fans, the two virtual influencers reconciled and become friends again.fights are full of comments from instagrammers surprised by how they got hooked on this plot of robots.

Shudu is another influencer that comes as the first digital supermodel .Its creator is the photographer Cameron-James Wilson, who said he was learning to create 3D images when he set out to design the most beautiful woman he could.Shudu is an image of the Balmain brand together to other virtual influencers called Margot and Zhi.

One of the latter c Elebrities to arrive is Imma, created by the Modeling Cafe studio, which has worked on video games such as' Final Fantasy XV 'or' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'.Imma outperforms the others influencers and, in fact, his amazing close-ups test the most critical eye.

The rise of virtual characters leads us to fascinating situations.As the story of Akihiko Kondo, a Japanese who would have paid 16,000 euros to marry the hologram of pop star Hatsune Miku, a virtual singer with more than 100,000 songs.

Surprising, but are we able to analyze it from an ethical base?

Images | Photo by h heyerlein on Unsplash

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