CIAS Inn: Researching the future of virtual influencers — Interview with Dr Asheen Heranga Hettiarachchi

Virtual influencers are becoming an increasingly visible part of the digital world. From human-designed Instagram personalities to AI-assisted brand ambassadors, some of these digital characters are attracting millions of followers and generating growing interest among marketers and researchers alike.  

The researcher working on this topic, originally from Sri Lanka, Dr. Asheen Heranga Hettiarachchi completed his PhD in Economics and Business Sciences in Italy in 2024. Despite his multidisciplinary educational background, he identifies marketing as his primary research field.  

His connection with Corvinus University began during his doctoral studies, when he spent a six-month visiting period here in 2023. During that time, he collaborated with the university’s researchers on projects related to virtual influencers. The cooperation continued after he returned to Italy and later completed his doctorate. Reflecting on his decision to apply for a CIAS fellowship, he says: “I thought since CIAS has a lot of opportunities and I think the environment is very positive for research, so I wanted to apply.” 

During his fellowship, Dr. Hettiarachchi completed three research projects while also launching several new international collaborations. In addition to virtual influencers, his broader research portfolio includes consumer responses to negative publicity, digital controversies, and intrusive marketing, with the latter two projects completed during his time at CIAS in collaboration with international researchers and professors from Corvinus University. 

Although still at an early stage, his current project entitled “Every Pot Has Its Lid: Matching Different Types of Virtual Influencers with Their Best-Fitting Industries”, seeks to answer a practical question that is becoming increasingly relevant for companies: which virtual influencer should be used for which product or industry? The project builds on his completed work on consumer responses to virtual influencers and brings together related ongoing studies on moral and ethical contestation around different virtual influencer types and consumer responses to changes in virtual influencers’ appearance. 

Virtual influencers are digital personalities that maintain social media profiles much like human influencers. They can post content, promote products, interact with followers and, in some cases, even develop their own storylines and merchandise. According to Dr. Hettiarachchi, the phenomenon gained momentum in the late 2010s and expanded rapidly alongside developments in artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the metaverse. “Virtual influencers now are very popular across several countries,” he says. While adoption varies across regions, countries such as the United States, China, Japan and India have already embraced virtual influencers to a considerable scale. 

One reason the topic has attracted growing academic attention is that virtual influencers are not all alike. Some are designed to look almost identical to real humans, while others resemble animated characters, mascots or entirely fictional creatures. This diversity led Dr. Hettiarachchi to investigate whether different types of virtual influencers might be better suited to different industries. “I wanted to have a project which evaluates all the influencers and all the industries, and I wanted to mention which influencer can be useful to which industry,” he explains. 

His preliminary observations suggest that more human-like virtual influencers may be particularly effective in industries such as fashion, cosmetics and luxury goods, where appearance and personal identification are important. Less human-like characters, meanwhile, may be more suitable for technology-related products and services. 

Although this set of interrelated studies is still in development, its potential practical implications are clear. The findings could help marketing managers choose the most suitable virtual influencers for their campaigns and even guide companies in designing their own digital brand ambassadors. 

The researcher also addresses the question of whether virtual influencers outperform human influencers. While digital characters offer several advantages — including flexibility, lower reputational risks and greater creative control — Dr. Hettiarachchi remains cautious: “At the moment, at least, they are not better than human influencers, in my opinion.” 

One reason is authenticity. Consumers often expect influencers to be credible and relatable, qualities that can be difficult for computer-generated personalities to replicate. “Sometimes people tend to say that, okay, he’s a digital character. So he’s not authentic. He’s not real,” the researcher notes. 

A particularly important concept is the so-called “uncanny valley” effect. When a virtual character becomes almost human, people may feel uncomfortable. As Dr. Hettiarachchi explains, “When the virtual influencer is more human-like, people say, ‘You are not human, why are you pretending like that?’” 

Consumer reactions also vary across generations and cultures. Younger audiences tend to be more familiar with and accepting of virtual influencers, while older consumers sometimes fail to recognise that the influencer is not a real person. Cultural differences are equally significant. Countries with strong traditions of animated characters, such as Japan, often show higher levels of acceptance than Western contexts. 

Photo: Dr Asheen Heranga Hettiarachchi