Virtual(ly) Human: How Anthropomorphic Presentations of Virtual Humans in Advertisements Affect Consumer Attitudes and Intentions

Abstract: The phenomenon of virtual influencers - artificially intelligent virtual humans - can today be observed on social media platforms. Little is yet known about the effects of using such non-human entities in an advertising context. This thesis therefore examines one important theoretical determinant of trust in non-human agents, namely anthropomorphic text presentation in advertisements on consumer attitudes and intentions. 2×2 between-subjects experimental results from n=137 participants demonstrate that an anthropomorphic text indeed have an impact on ad attitudes, intentions towards the virtual human, and advertisement WOM intentions. While the likeability of the virtual human presented in the ad mediated this relationship, technological knowledge but not previous experience with virtual agents moderated respondents' tendency to anthropomorphize. Drawing on theories of anthropomorphism and human-computer interaction (HCI), these findings have important implications for marketing practitioners using spokes-characters such as virtual influencers in their advertisements.