• 디지털융복합연구
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• 제19권9호
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• pp.323-333
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• 2021

2016년 소셜미디어에 등장한 릴 미켈라는 오늘날 점차 주목받는 버추얼 인플루언서들 중 가장 알려진 존재이다. 특히 미켈라는 인스타그램을 통해 많은 패션 브랜드들과 실제적 협업을 이어가면서 사회에 큰 영향을 미치고 있다. 본 연구는 오늘날 버추얼 인플루언서들의 활약이 부각되고 있는 만큼 미켈라의 소셜미디어 사례 탐색을 통해 현대 패션이 지향하는 의미를 도출하고자 하는 목적을 갖는다. 이를 위하여 미켈라의 인스타그램 내 스틸컷 이미지, 비디오 이미지, 미켈라의 설명, 댓글 등을 연구대상으로 삼아 분석하였다. 이상의 분석을 시도한 결과 미켈라의 소셜미디어에 나타난 패션을 표현하는 방식 및 장치는 스토리텔링, 리얼리티, 태그와 하이퍼링크 등 세 가지로 구분이 가능하였다. 또한 경험의 대상, 테크놀로지의 지향, 시대정신의 구현 등의 세 가지 측면에서 패션이 갖는 의미를 도출할 수 있었다. 소셜미디어에서 등장한 이후 점차 더 영역을 확장해가고 있는 미켈라는 패션을 통해 정체성을 구축한 버추얼 패션 인플루언서이며 앞으로 패션에 보다 더 새로운 의미를 부여할 것으로 기대된다.

• 디지털융복합연구
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• 제19권11호
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• pp.471-483
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• 2021

본 연구는 가상 인플루언서 마케팅의 출발선에서 가상 인플루언서에 대한 수용자의 반응을 알아보는 것을 목적으로 한다. 이에 국내에서 활동 중인 가상 인플루언서의 인스타그램에서 게시글과 댓글, '좋아요' 수와 동영상 리뷰 수를 수집하였다. 자료의 수집과 분석에는 Python 3.7과 Textom을 사용하였다. 감성 분석결과, 긍정 감성이 부정과 중립의 감성보다 높게 나타났으며, 긍·부정 모두 가상 인플루언서의 외모가 주요한 요인으로 나타났다. 중립의 감성에서 가상 인플루언서에 대한 소비자의 관심을 유추할 수 있었다. 본 연구는 가상 인플루언서에 대한 소비자의 반응을 알아보고 가상 인플루언서에 대한 긍정과 부정의 감정에 대한 요인을 파악하여, 가상 인플루언서 마케팅의 전략 수립에 도움이 될 자료를 제시했다는 것에 그 의의가 있다.

• 한국의류산업학회지
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.1-14
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• 2024

Virtual influencers, who are emerging as new players in digital marketing, impact consumers' purchase intentions. They promote positive perceptions and mimetic consumption of specific brands or products through interactions with followers. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of the characteristics of virtual influencers on the purchase intention for fashion products through the consumers' mimetic desire. As characteristics of virtual influencers, five factors were set: reality, attractiveness, professionalism, trustworthiness, and curiosity. Data for analysis were collected through an online questionnaire from the 8th to the 15th of August 2023, and 268 data points in total were analyzed using SPSS and Process Macro 4.3. The results of the study showed that the characteristics of virtual influencers all positively affected mimetic desire and purchase intention for fashion products. Moreover, it was found that mimetic desire has a mediating effect between the five characteristics of virtual influencers and the purchase intention for fashion products. Mimetic desire fully mediates the relationship between reality and the intention to purchase fashion products, and partially mediates the relationship between attractiveness, professionalism, trustworthiness, and curiosity and the purchase intention for fashion products. These findings further enhance the understanding of the relationship between virtual influencers and consumer behavior and identify the relationship between virtual influencers, mimetic desire, and fashion product purchase intentions. Consequently, leveraging virtual influencers strategically in digital marketing, the fashion industry can amplify positive brand perceptions, drive consumer engagement, and ultimately foster increased purchase intent.

• 한국의류학회지
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• 제47권2호
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• pp.295-310
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• 2023

The current virtual fashion influencers are a hyper-real prototype in that it has a higher presence than the virtual humans in the past. Also, they are leading fashion trend with more than tens of thousands of followers on social media. This study investigated the physical and social presence of virtual fashion influencer perceived by consumer and verified effects on evaluation attributes of influencers and the relationship maintenance behavior. A total of 321 Korean women in their 20s and 30s who have Instagram account participated in the online survey. The data was analyzed using AMOS 23.0. The results revealed that the physical presence had a significant impact on attractiveness of virtual fashion influencers. In case of social presence had a positive effect on friendliness and reliability of virtual fashion influencers. In addition, evaluation attributes of virtual fashion influencers' friendliness, attractiveness and reliability in the order of influence on relationship maintenance behavior. This study suggested that the development of social presence of virtual fashion influencers with friendliness and attractiveness is more important than the physical presence that has already reached a high level.

• 한국의류학회지
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• 제48권2호
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• pp.282-299
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• 2024

This study aimed to examine the impact of virtual influencers' characteristics on purchase intentions through attitudes toward the influencer and the brand, and to identify which factors are important depending on involvement. We used a scenario-based online survey of 320 female consumers in their twenties and thirties, and analyzed their responses through structural equation modeling using AMOS 21.0. Virtual influencers' attractiveness, reliability, familiarity, and virtuality had significant effects on consumers' attitudes toward those influencers, while their attractiveness, familiarity, and virtuality had significant effects on consumers' brand attitudes. Notably, in contrast to the other variables, virtuality had a negative effect. In addition, consumers' attitudes toward the virtual influencer significantly affected their brand attitudes and purchase intentions. We also analyzed which characteristics had significant impacts on high- and low-involvement groups. We found that reliability had the greatest influence on purchase intentions in the high-involvement group and that familiarity had the greatest influence on purchase intentions in the low-involvement group, which confirmed that the variables affecting purchase intentions differ depending on the level of involvement.

• 복식문화연구
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.446-462
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• 2020

The objectives of this study are to explore the information source, assessment, and preferred styles of 3D virtual influencers(VI), to investigate the expected impact of advertisements with 3D VIs on brands, and to explore ways of expanding the use of 3D VIs. In-depth interviews with 40 males and females in their 20s and 30s were conducted and qualitative data were analyzed. The study results are summarized as follows. First, the information source of the 3D VI was SNS, acquaintances, and broadcasting. Second, 3D VIs were considered positively due to their attractive appearance, wide utilization, innovative use, freshness, separation from private identity, and time and cost savings, while considered negatively due to their unrealistic appearance and antipathy against replacing a person's role. Third, the preferred appearance styles of the 3D VI differed according to the level of virtuality although the majority of interviewees preferred similar looks to real people with low virtuality. Fourth, diverse image qualities such as innovative, differentiated, trendy, high-value, professional, and future-oriented were considered as transferred to the brand advertised by 3D VIs. Fifth, advertisements with 3D VIs may help build positive perceptions of advertised brands that may lead to purchase behaviors for some consumers. Lastly, to expand the use of 3D VIs, the specific advantages of virtual models should be maximized with consideration of how to implement a variety of body types and images of models. Findings present an important foundation to generate strategies to better apply 3D VIs to the fashion market.

• 한국융합학회논문지
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• 제12권12호
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• pp.213-222
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• 2021

본 연구는 패션 버추얼 인플루언서(FVI)의 시각적 요소가 팔로워 행동의도, 중독에 미치는 영향요인을 확인하고자 하였다. 요즘 FVI의 팬 수가 증가하고 있으며, 소셜 플랫폼의 중독 현상도 증가하면서 연구자들은 FVI의 시각적 측면으로 팬들의 행동의도와 중독에 이르는 경로를 확인하는 연구가 필요할 것으로 보았다. 연구결과 FVI의 시각적 요소인 매력성은 전문성을 통해 진정성을 영향을 미치는 것으로 확인되었다. 또 진정성은 행동의도의 관계유지를 통해 몰입에 영향을 미치는 것이 확인되었고 진정성은 몰입을 통해 중독에 영향을 미치는 것도 확인되었다. 연구자들은 본 연구를 통해 FVI의 시각적 요소가 행동의도와 중독에 이르는 경로를 시각적 요소와 진정성, 진정성과 행동의도, 행동의도와 중독 등으로 설정하여 검정하였다는 점에서 이론적, 실무적 공헌점이 있다고 보았다. 연구자들은 향후 FVI의 다양한 콘텐츠 유형, 소셜 플랫폼의 측면으로 연구가 확대되길 기대한다.

• 한국의류학회지
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• 제47권5호
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• pp.873-890
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• 2023

This study analyzed users' emotional responses to VI character design through YouTube comments. The researchers applied text-mining to analyze 116,375 comments, focusing on terms related to character design and characteristics of VI. Using the BERT model in sentiment analysis, we classified comments into extremely negative, negative, neutral, positive, or extremely positive sentiments. Next, we conducted a co-occurrence frequency analysis on comments with extremely negative and extremely positive responses to examine the semantic relationships between character design and emotional characteristic terms. We also performed a content analysis of comments about Miquela and Shudu to analyze the perception differences regarding the two character designs. The results indicate that form elements (e.g., voice, face, and skin) and behavioral elements (e.g., speaking, interviewing, and reacting) are vital in eliciting users' emotional responses. Notably, in the negative responses, users focused on the humanization aspect of voice and the authenticity aspect of behavior in speaking, interviewing, and reacting. Furthermore, we found differences in the character design elements and characteristics that users expect based on the VI's field of activity. As a result, this study suggests applications to character design to accommodate these variations.