International Journal of Advertising

New Directions in Influencer Advertising: Persuasive Power, Brand Outcomes, and Societal Impact

Aims and Scope

Influencer advertising has evolved from a supplementary social media tactic into a central form of contemporary brand communication. Across product categories, markets, and cultural contexts, brands increasingly rely on influencers, creators, livestream hosts, virtual personalities, AI-generated personas, and online communities to communicate persuasive messages, build brand relationships, and shape consumer attitudes and behaviors. At the same time, advances in artificial intelligence, generative media, virtual influencers, synthetic content, personalization technologies, and interactive commerce are rapidly expanding what influencer advertising can be and how it operates. As influencer advertising becomes more established, it is important to examine not only whether influencers are effective, but also how influencer advertising functions as advertising.

This special issue focuses on influencer advertising as a form of persuasive communication. Influencer advertising differs from traditional advertising in important ways: persuasive messages are often embedded in personal narratives, lifestyle content, entertainment, product demonstrations, tutorials, livestream interactions, and creator-audience relationships, and increasingly AI-assisted or synthetic forms of content. These features can make influencer advertising especially powerful. Influencers may enhance persuasion through perceived authenticity, intimacy, expertise, relatability, emotional resonance, and trust (Duffek et al., 2025). Their messages may shape attitudes toward advertising, attitudes toward brands, purchase intentions, consumer identity, social norms, lifestyle aspirations, and long-term brand relationships.

At the same time, the persuasive power of influencer advertising may create unintended consequences. When consumers perceive influencer content as overly commercialized, deceptive, manipulative, inauthentic, or insufficiently disclosed, influencer advertising may backfire by generating skepticism, resistance, negative ad attitudes, negative brand attitudes, or broader distrust toward influencers, brands, platforms, and advertising institutions. Emerging concerns such as deepfakes, manipulated influencer content, synthetic media, AI-generated endorsements, misinformation, unrealistic social comparison, privacy concerns, and consumer vulnerability further highlight the need to examine both the effectiveness and potential dark sides of influencer advertising.

Recent scholarship suggests that influencer advertising is entering a new stage of theoretical and empirical development. Early research helped establish the importance of source credibility, authenticity, sponsorship disclosure, parasocial relationships, and persuasion outcomes (Hu, Kim, & Kang, 2025). Newer work points to a broader and more complex landscape in which influencer advertising intersects with ethical responsibility, misinformation, personalized persuasion, synthetic influence, consumer well-being, vulnerable audiences, identity, representation, and evolving persuasive formats (Lou, Zhou, & Ai, 2026; Mehra et al., 2026; Mulholland et al., 2025; Tripathi et al., 2025; Zhou et al., 2026).

Several emerging research streams are especially important. First, influencer advertising raises questions about ethical responsibility, disclosure, misinformation, consumer protection, and regulatory guidance (Mehra et al., 2026). Second, consumer–influencer relationships are becoming more interactive, reciprocal, and co-created, extending beyond traditional parasocial relationship frameworks (Kim et al., 2026; Lou, Zhou, & Ai, 2026). Third, personalization, gamification, livestreaming, short-form video, and other interactive formats are reshaping how consumers encounter and evaluate influencer messages (Bünzli, Weber, & Grabner, 2026; Chaihanchanchai, Anantachart, & Kim, 2026; Tripathi et al., 2025; Yoon, Lee, & Chen, 2025). Fourth, virtual influencers, AI-generated creators, synthetic media, and AI-assisted content production challenge assumptions about authenticity, expertise, identity, creativity, and trust (Ryoo et al., 2026; van Berlo, Campbell, & Voorveld, 2024; Koning & Voorveld, 2025; Thomas & Liu-Thompkins, 2024; Zhou et al., 2026). Finally, influencer advertising increasingly shapes consumer well-being, social comparison, body image, age stereotypes, beauty norms, health decisions, sustainability perceptions, and other societal outcomes (Iyer & Muncy, 2026; Mertens, Beuckels, & Hudders, 2026; Lavertu et al., 2025; Mueller-Bryson et al., 2026; Pfiffelmann, 2026).

This special issue seeks conceptual, empirical, and methodological research that rethinks influencer advertising from the perspective of advertising theory, persuasive communication, consumer responses, brand strategy, consumer welfare, and societal impact. We encourage submissions that examine influencer advertising as a distinctive advertising form with unique source characteristics, message features, relational dynamics, executional strategies, personalization mechanisms, and ethical implications.

We are especially interested in research that moves beyond incremental extensions of well-established effects and offers meaningful theoretical, empirical, methodological, managerial, or policy contributions. Submissions should be clearly grounded in advertising and persuasive communication contexts and should articulate their contribution to advertising theory, practice, and/or policy.

Potential Topics of Interest

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following areas.

Influencer Advertising as Persuasive Communication

·       Influencer advertising as a distinctive form of advertising and persuasive communication

·       Influencers as advertising sources, endorsers, creators, brand partners, cultural intermediaries, and social influence agents

·       Boundaries among authentic expression, commercial persuasion, sponsored content, branded entertainment, native advertising, electronic word-of-mouth, and public relations

·       New theoretical frameworks for understanding influencer advertising

Message, Source, and Creative Characteristics

·       Source credibility, expertise, authenticity, relatability, attractiveness, perceived similarity, and trustworthiness

·       Influencer–brand fit, product fit, audience fit, and value congruence

·       Message design, storytelling, humor, emotion, lifestyle appeals, visual execution, language, tone, and aesthetics

·       Product demonstrations, reviews, tutorials, testimonials, livestreams, short-form videos, and experiential advertising formats

Consumer Responses and Advertising Effectiveness

·       Attitudes toward influencer ads, sponsored content, influencers, and brands

·       Persuasion knowledge, skepticism, advertising recognition, advertising literacy, and resistance

·       Parasocial and trans-parasocial relationships, emotional attachment, perceived intimacy, reciprocity, interaction, and co-creation

·       Brand attitudes, purchase intentions, brand trust, brand equity, consumer loyalty, and long-term brand relationships

·       Effects of influencer advertising across the customer journey and across product, service, nonprofit, health, public policy, and social cause contexts

AI, Synthetic Influence, and Emerging Advertising Technologies

·       Virtual influencers, AI-generated influencers, synthetic creators, digital avatars, and AI-assisted content production

·       Generative AI, deepfakes, synthetic media, and manipulated influencer content in advertising

·       Personalized and tailored influencer advertising and consumer receptivity to personalized influencer messages

·       Privacy concerns, perceived intrusiveness, surveillance concerns, consumer autonomy, and perceived control

·       Livestream interaction, real-time persuasion, social commerce, and shoppable content

·       Authenticity, identity, humanness, anthropomorphism, disclosure, and trust in synthetic or AI-assisted influence

Backlash, Ethics, and Societal Impact

·       Conditions under which influencer advertising backfires, including distrust, avoidance, influencer fatigue, and perceived inauthenticity

·       Hidden persuasion, sponsorship disclosure failures, deceptive advertising, misinformation, and corrective interventions

·       Deepfakes, manipulated influencer content, synthetic media, fabricated endorsements, and AI-generated claims

·       Consumer well-being, vulnerable audiences, representation, diversity, sustainability, regulation, and public trust

References

Bünzli, F., Weber, W., & Grabner, H. (2026). Depicting more or less action? How motion density influences user responses in social media marketing. International Journal of Advertising, 1–20.

Chaihanchanchai, P., Anantachart, S., & Kim, Y. (2026). Understanding advertising value in YouTube ads: Dual pathways through incentives and emotional appeal–evidence from two digital markets. International Journal of Advertising, 1–35.

Duffek, B., Eisingerich, A. B., Merlo, O., & Lee, G. (2025). Authenticity in influencer marketing: How can influencers and brands work together to build and maintain influencer authenticity? Journal of Marketing, 89(5), 21–46.

Hu, K., Kim, C., & Kang, E. Y. (2025). Cross-cultural analysis of influencer marketing: Meta-analysis and meta-regression of factors and effects. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 1–26.

Iyer, R., & Muncy, J. A. (2026). Skin lightening product use: The impact of advertising, social influences, and self-perceived knowledge. International Journal of Advertising, 1–22.

Kim, W. B., Li, R., Kim, C., Yi, H. T., & Youn, N. (2026). Relationships between parasocial relationships, brand learning, and brand Love: Moderated mediation effect of celebrity endorser credibility. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 1–21.

Koning, B., & Voorveld, H. A. (2025). Disclaimer! This content is AI-generated: How AI-disclosures influence trust in advertisements and organizations. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 25(3), 240–253.

Lavertu, L., Kulow, K., Cowan, K., & Marder, B. (2025). Petfluencers, the fur-mula for sincere endorsements: Examining how and when pets exhibit greater persuasion as influencers. Journal of Advertising Research, 65(4), 484–499.

Lou, C., Zhou, X., & Ai, P. (2026). Beyond ‘I fancy you’: Measuring trans-parasocial relationships in influencer advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 1–20.

Mehra, D., Gupta, A., Gupta, S., Melewar, T. C., & Gee, L. (2026). Ethics in influencer marketing: A review, synthesis and research directions. International Journal of Advertising, 1–35.

Mertens, E., Beuckels, E., & Hudders, L. (2026). Negotiating breastfeeding information in everyday life: Mothers’ engagement with momfluencer content. International Journal of Advertising, 1–24.

Mulholland, S., Lang, B., Lee, M., & Bentham, C. (2025). How mega-and micro-influencers strategically manage authenticity: Exploring influencer types and content differences based on social network theory. Journal of Advertising Research, 65(1), 78–94.

Mueller-Bryson, S., Shi, H., Ahn, R. J., & Zhao, X. (2026). From granny to granfluencer: How older influencers are challenging age-related stereotypes via fashion portrayals and affecting consumer responses through social media. International Journal of Advertising, 1–32.

Pfiffelmann, J. (2026). Beyond the clear skin ideal: How a model’s facial skin appearance influences consumer attention to cosmetic advertising and brand attitude. International Journal of Advertising, 1–32.

Ryoo, Y., Bakpayev, M., Jeon, Y. A., Kim, K., & Yoon, S. (2026). High hopes, hard falls: Consumer expectations and reactions to AI-human collaboration in advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 45(1), 48–80.

Thomas, V. L., & Liu-Thompkins, Y. (2024). Harnessing the strengths of computational advertising and experimental methods to enhance research design. Journal of Advertising, 53(5), 700–709.

Tripathi, S., Jain, V., Pandey, J., Merchant, A., & Gupta, D. G. (2025). Personalization payoff: Understanding receptivity to tailored/personalized digital advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 1–29.

van Berlo, Z. M., Campbell, C., & Voorveld, H. A. (2024). The MADE framework: Best practices for creating effective experimental stimuli using generative AI. Journal of Advertising, 53(5), 732–753.

Yoon, G., Lee, J., & Chen, W. F. (2025). The gamification of advertising: A meta-analysis. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 1–21.

Zhou, A., Dai, Y., Liu, Y., & Liu, J. (2026). Navigating consumer well-being in the digital era: How virtual influencer marketing can reduce fashion consumer anxiety and unsustainable purchases. International Journal of Advertising, 45(5), 1174–1224.