She collaborates with big brands such as Adidas, Red Bull, McDonald’s and Maybelline. She shares her thoughts on important political issues. She has participated in “Shall we dance”, and even been on the cover of Vogue Brasil. With over 30 million followers in social media, Lu do Magalu is a very popular influencer. But Lu is not a real person. She exists only in the digital sphere and is a so-called virtual influencer. She was created by the department store Magazine Luiza – or Magalu, if you like. As with many flesh and blood influencers, her most important task is precisely to influence people’s attitudes and actions – and not least buying habits. Lu do Magalu is always well dressed and she makes it easy for her followers to find the clothes in the Magalu department store app. Photo: Screenshot from Instagram, @magazineluiza / 08.08.22, at 19.00 She does this by posing as a real person in social media. She goes on dates, she goes on vacation, she works out, she tries her hand at viral dances, she cleans the house, she has fun on the town, and she chills on the couch. – This is wisely created, says professor of media studies at the University of Oslo (UiO), Gunn Enli. She has allowed herself to be fascinated by how the distinction between what is real and what is fake is beginning to blur with this trend that has exploded in recent years. Because according to the website Virtual Humans, they have gone from nine virtual influencers in 2015, to 125 in 2020, to over 200 this year. Many of these can boast both hundreds of thousands and millions of followers – and Lu is the biggest of them all. Lu do Magalu was the first virtual influencer to ever grace the cover of a fashion magazine. Photo: Faksimile / Vogue Brasil The key to the industry While the virtual influencers certainly have the benefit of becoming household names in Norway, they have made a special mark in Asia and on the American continent. Here they are embraced by everything from mobile manufacturers, to musicians, to fashion houses. One of the first to gain a large following was 19-year-old American model and artist Lil Miquela. She saw the light of day in 2016 and since then has ended up on Time Magazine’s list of the 25 most influential people on the internet. Lil Miquela is like most 19-year-olds; fond of selfies. On her Instagram page, she takes her followers through both the highs and lows of her everyday life. Photo: Screenshot from Instagram, @lilmiquela / 08.08.22, at 19.04 According to UiO professor Gunn Enli, much of the success lies in the fact that the virtual influencers are given human characteristics. They have a background, they have ambitions, and they do relatively ordinary things. And even though as digital creatures they could have been perfect, they are nevertheless made with faults and flaws – just like us humans – in order for them to be perceived as authentic. – You can compare them to characters in TV series. They’re not real, either, but we like them and can identify with them. And what we identify with is the whole key to the influencer industry, says Enli. Less control It must be said that the popularity of the virtual influencers fell slightly from 2020 to 2021, but those in the know are convinced that the digital creatures are here to stay. Professor Enli explains that they offer a number of advantages for producers. – The producers do not have to deal with actual people, and then there is less control. For example, a virtual Coca-Cola drinker will not influence the city if they are paid to advertise Pepsi, she says. – In addition, they can be in several places at the same time, without travelling. They can work for several companies at the same time. They don’t need to take so many pictures to get a good one. You also don’t have to deal with, for example, rules around the manipulation of images, because here everything is manipulated in the first place. Shudu is considered the world’s first digital supermodel, and has been used by the prestigious Balmain, among others. Although the images of Shudu are manipulated, they do not need to be labeled. Photo: Screenshot from Instagram, @shudu.gram / 08.08.22, at 19.08 Enli admits that there are obviously aspects that are lost in the transition from the real to the virtual. For example, dialogue with a robot is not comparable to the relationship you can have with a real person. The professor therefore does not believe there is any imminent danger that the human influencers will be outcompeted, but she believes they will have to live side by side with the non-humans in the future. – This industry has taken over much of the traditional advertising and the traditional celebrity series, and this is its natural further development towards the digital. Barbie can be said to have been the very first non-human influencer. And the well-known figure has clearly kept up with the times, and with an Instagram account and YouTube channel she is now also a virtual influencer to reckon with. In fact, she is the third biggest in the world, after Lu do Magalu and Lil Miquela. Photo: Screenshot from Instagram, @barbie / 08.08.22, at 19.10
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The popularity of virtual influencers has exploded – experts believe they have many advantages – news Trøndelag
