What happens when a virtual influencer reveals a sponsorship? In this episode, Dr. Jiemin Looi (Hong Kong Baptist University) joins us to discuss her Journal of Advertising Research article, “Sponsorship Disclosure in Virtual Influencer Marketing: Assessing Users’ Sentiment and Engagement Toward Virtual Influencer Endorsements,” coauthored with Anna Kim and Zihang Yi.
Dr. Looi explains how the team combined computational analysis and an online experiment to uncover the complexities of sponsorship disclosure in virtual influencer marketing. In Study 1, they analyzed 48,147 Instagram comments on Lil Miquela’s posts, using topic modeling, sentiment and emoji analysis, and engagement metrics. Results revealed a paradox: users showed more positive sentiment toward sponsored posts, but engagement was stronger for non-sponsored content. In Study 2, a controlled experiment with 159 U.S. Instagram users replicated these effects—non-sponsored posts drove higher parasocial interaction and engagement. Interestingly, the findings also challenged the Persuasion Knowledge Model, showing that sponsorship disclosures did not activate defensive skepticism in the way theory predicts.
The conversation touches on users’ ongoing confusion about whether virtual influencers are human or machine, how “uncanny valley” effects create both admiration and discomfort, and why brands need to interpret engagement metrics more cautiously when working with AI-powered personas. Dr. Looi also shares practical advice for advertisers on balancing transparency, authenticity, and trust in this emerging space.
Read the full paper here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00218499.2025.2464300
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