Young, beautiful and scandal-free: the rise of South Korean virtual influencers

She has over 130,000 followers on Instagram , a platform where he publishes photos of his adventures around the world. Her makeup is always impeccable, her clothes look like they came off the catwalk. She sings, dances and models – and none of it is real.

Rozy is a “virtual influencer” South Corean a digitized human so realistic that she is often mistaken for a flesh-and-blood woman.

“Are you a real person?” asks one of his fans on Instagram. “You are an AI [inteligência artificial]? Or a robot?” asks another.

According to the Seoul-based company that created her, Rozy is a blend of all three, traversing the real and virtual worlds.

She is “capable of doing everything that humans cannot… in the most humane way possible”, defines Sidus Studio X on its website. This includes making a profit for the company through advertising and entertainment.

Since her 2020 release, Rozy has landed deals and brand sponsorships, walked virtual runways, and even released two songs.

And she is not alone.

The “virtual humans” industry is booming, and with it a whole new economy in which the influencers of the future are ageless, scandal-free, controversial and digitally perfect – raising a red flag among some in a country already obsessed with standards of unattainable beauty.

How virtual influencers work

The CGI (computer generated imagery) technology behind Rozy is not new. It is ubiquitous in today’s entertainment industry, where artists use it to create lifelike non-human characters in movies, computer games, and music videos.

But only recently has it been used to create influencers.

Sidus Studio X sometimes creates an image of Rozy from head to toe using technology, an approach that works well for her Instagram images. Other times, she superimposes her head on the body of a human model – when she models clothes, for example.

South Korean retail brand Lotte Home Shopping created its virtual influencer — Lucy, who has 78,000 Instagram followers — with software typically used for video games.

Just like their real-life counterparts, virtual influencers build a network of followers on social media, where they post snapshots of their “lives” and interact with their fans.

Rozy’s account shows her “traveling” to Singapore and enjoying a glass of wine on a rooftop. In the publication, her fans praise her clothes.

Older generations may find interacting with an artificial person a bit strange. But experts say virtual influencers have hit the hardest among younger Koreans, digital natives who spend much of their lives online.

Lee Na-kyoung, a 23-year-old girl who lives in Incheon, started following Rozy about two years ago thinking she was a real person.

Rozy followed her back, sometimes even commenting on her posts, and an online friendship blossomed — a relationship that lasted even after Lee discovered the truth.

“We communicated as friends and I felt comfortable with her – so I don’t think of her as an AI, but as a real friend,” Lee said.

“I love Rozy’s content,” he added. “She’s so beautiful I can’t believe she’s an AI.”

a profitable business

Social media doesn’t just allow virtual influencers to build a fan base – that’s where the money comes in.

Rozy’s Instagram, for example, is dotted with sponsored content in which she advertises skin care products and clothing.

“Many big companies in Korea want to use Rozy as a model,” explained Baik Seung-yup, CEO of Sidus Studio X. with Rozy.”

He added that as Rozy became more popular, the company got more sponsorships from luxury brands like Chanel and Hermes, as well as magazines and other media companies.

Their ads have appeared on television and even in offline spaces such as billboards and bus sides.

Lotte expects similar profits this year from Lucy, who has attracted advertising offers from finance and construction companies, according to Lee Bo-hyun, director of the media business division at Lotte Home Shopping.

The models are in high demand because they help brands reach younger consumers, experts point out.

Rozy’s clients include a life insurance company and a bank—companies often seen as antiquated. “They say that his image became very young after working with Rozy”, celebrates Baik.

One bright spot, compared to some of their real-life counterparts, is that these new stars need little maintenance.

Lotte and Sidus Studio X take between a few hours and a few days to create a picture of their stars, and two days to a few weeks for a video commercial.

That’s a lot less time and work than it takes to produce a commercial with real humans – where weeks or months can be spent exploring locations and preparing logistics such as lighting, hair and makeup, styling, food and post-production editing.

And, perhaps just as importantly, virtual influencers never age, tire or generate controversy.

Lotte decided on a virtual influencer when considering how to maximize her “show hosts,” Lee said.

Lotte Home Shopping hires human presenters to advertise products on TV — but they “cost a lot” and “there will be changes as they get older,” Lee said. So, they came with Lucy, who is “29 years old forever”.

“Lucy is not limited by time or space,” he added. “She can show up anywhere. And there are no moral issues.”

a question about beauty

South Korea is not the only place that has embraced virtual influencers.

Among the most famous virtual influencers in the world are Lil Miquela, conceived by the co-founders of an American technology startup, who has endorsed brands such as Calvin Klein and Prada and has more than 3 million followers on Instagram; Lu do Magalu, created by Magazine Luiza, has almost 6 million followers on Instagram; and FNMeka, a rapper developed by the Factory New label, has over 10 million followers on TikTok.

But there is one big difference, according to Lee Eun-hee, a professor in the Department of Consumer Science at the University of Inha: Virtual influencers in other countries tend to reflect a diversity of ethnic backgrounds and beauty ideals.

Virtual humans elsewhere have a “uniqueness”, while “the ones in Korea are always pretty and beautiful… [refletindo] the values ​​of each country”.

And in South Korea — often dubbed the “plastic surgery capital of the world” for its booming $10.7 billion industry — there are concerns that virtual influencers could further fuel unrealistic beauty standards.

Younger Koreans have begun to struggle with these ideals in recent years, sparking a movement in 2018 dubbed “Escape the Corset”.

But ideas of what is popularly considered beautiful in the country remain narrow; for women, this usually means a petite figure with large eyes, a small face, and pale, fair skin.

And these resources are shared by most of the country’s virtual influencers; Lucy has flawless skin, long, shiny hair, a slender jaw, and a pert nose.

Rozy has full lips, long legs, and a flat stomach peeking out from under her tops.

Lee Eun-hee warned that virtual influencers like Rozy and Lucy could be making Korea’s already demanding beauty standards even more unattainable — and increasing demand for plastic surgery or cosmetic products among women looking to emulate them.

“Real women want to become like them, and men want to date people who look the same,” she says.

The creators of Rozy and Lucy reject such criticism.

Lotte’s representative Lee Bo-hyun said they tried to make Lucy more than just a “pretty picture”, creating an elaborate story and personality.

She studied industrial design and works in automobile design. She posts about her work and interests, such as her love of animals and kimbap – rice rolls wrapped in seaweed.

In this way, “Lucy is striving to have a good influence on society,” vetted Lee, adding, “She is giving a message to the public to ‘do what you want according to your beliefs’”.

Baik, CEO of Sidus Studio X, said that Rozy is not what “one would call pretty”, and that the company has deliberately tried to make her look unique and depart from traditional Korean norms.

He pointed to the freckles on her cheeks and her wide eyes.

“Rozy shows people the importance of inner trust,” he said. “There are other virtual humans who are just as beautiful…but I made Rozy to show you that you can still be beautiful.”

“Blackface Digital”

Concerns go beyond Korean beauty standards. Elsewhere in the world, there is debate over the ethics of marketing products to consumers who do not realize the models are not human, as well as the risk of cultural appropriation when creating influencers of different ethnicities – labeled by some as “digital blackface”.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram that has more than 200 virtual influencers on its platforms, acknowledged the risks.

“Like any disruptive technology, synthetic media has the potential for both good and ill. Issues of representation, cultural appropriation and expressive freedom are already a growing concern,” the company said in a post.

“To help brands navigate the ethical dilemmas of this emerging medium and avoid potential risks, Meta is working with partners to develop an ethical framework to guide usage. [dos influenciadores virtuais]”.

But one thing seems clear: the industry is here to stay. As interest in the digital world grows – from metaverse and virtual reality technologies to digital currencies – companies are betting that virtual influencers are the next frontier.

Lotte hopes Lucy will move from advertising to entertainment, perhaps appearing in a television drama. The company is also working on a virtual human that will appeal to shoppers between the ages of 40 and 60.

Sidus Studio X also has big ambitions: Rozy will launch her own cosmetics brand in August, as well as an NFT, and the company hopes to create a virtual pop trio to break into the music charts.

Baik points out that most fans don’t know real celebrities in person, they just see them on screen. So “there’s not a big difference between virtual humans and real-life celebrities.”

“We want to change the perception of how people think about virtual humans,” emphasized Baik. “What we do is not take away people’s jobs, but do things that humans can’t do, like working 24 hours or creating unique content, like walking in the sky.”