가상 인간 광고모델의 성별과 제품 유형에 따른 광고효과: 광고태도, 제품태도, 구매의도를 중심으로

This study aims to empirically examine the interaction effects of virtual human advertising model gender (male vs. female) and product type (high-involvement vs. low-involvement) on consumer responses, specifically ad attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention. A 2 (model gender) × 2 (product type) factorial design was employed to create virtual advertising models and fictitious brands. The experiment was conducted with 140 university students as participants. The results revealed that in advertisements for high-involvement products, male virtual human models elicited significantly more favorable responses across all three dependent variables - ad attitude, product attitude, and purchase intention - compared to female models. In contrast, for low-involvement product advertisements, the differences in consumer responses by model gender were either statistically insignificant or marginal. These findings suggest that consumers’ information processing styles vary depending on the level of product involvement, which moderates the impact of model gender on advertising effectiveness. Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature by extending traditional advertising research, previously centered on real human models, to the domain of virtual human models. Furthermore, this study strengthens the theoretical foundation of virtual human advertising research by integrating the Elaboration Likelihood Model with Gender Congruence Theory. Practically, the findings emphasize the need to strategically select virtual model gender based on product characteristics and provide foundational insights for effectively utilizing virtual human models in the digital advertising landscape.