In the last few years, Instagram has seen the emergence of a new kind of influencer, one whose image, agency and voice lie in the hands of people pulling their strings behind-the-scenes, often unbeknownst to their human followers.
Charles TrepanyAt first glance, Miquela Sousa is everything you would expect an Instagram-famous 19-year-old to be.
That’s because Miquela isn’t a person. She’s a digital avatar created through computer-generated imagery, or CGI. Miquela herself has partnered with top brands including Samsung Mobile and Calvin Klein , and Time magazine ranked her one of the 25 most influential people on the internet in 2018, among President Trump, Kanye West, Rihanna and Kylie Jenner.
While the possibility of a CGI influencer who looks completely human may appeal to brands, Diane Pacom, a retired sociology professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada, worries about the social implications. “You're basically assuming that they are a person who is making their decisions based out of free will, that they have some sense of volition or agency, when in fact it's a brand,” he said. “It's decisions that might be made by six people sitting in a conference room.”Though some creators of digital influencers speak openly about their work, others are more elusive.
Brud, the company behind Miquela as well as two other CGI influencers named Blawko and Bermuda, has taken a different, more secretive approach. Rather than reveal their company as the mastermind behind Miquela, they wrote themselves into her story. She added: “Also, if you know too much about them, then little Miquela can't really shine. So they are building these personalities, and if you know the man behind the curtain, all of a sudden the whole 'Wizard of Oz' thing just kind of falls.”Will CGI influencers replace human influencers?
Varshavski became an influencer when his Instagram account earned him a viral reputation as"the hot doctor” in 2015. The way he sees it, the ability for CGI influencers to be controlled to perfection may be their downfall. According to Chowdhary, the presence of CGI influencers on Instagram calls attention to the desire to project perfection on social media.
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