Influencers virtuales femeninas y representación de género: análisis de su imagen en Instagram

Sergio Jesús Villén Higueras; Almudena Mata-Núñez

doi:10.31637/epsir-2025-568

Authors

Sergio Jesús Villén Higueras University of Seville https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6813-3614
Almudena Mata-Núñez University of Seville https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9051-2397

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-568

Keywords:

virtual influencers, virtual humans, gender representation, female models, artificial intelligence, CGI, social networks, Instagram

Abstract

Introduction: The development of computer-generated images and generative artificial intelligence has fostered the proliferation of humanlike virtual influencers (HVI) on social networks. This landscape enables a new focus of interest for gender representation, which is why this research seeks to analyze the image of these influencers on Instagram, determine the audiovisual codes used, and examine the connections established with brands or other virtual or real influencers. Methodology: Applying a qualitative and quantitative methodology, materialized in the development of a specific analysis template, the 100 latest publications of 10 outstanding HVI profiles on Instagram are examined. Results: Among the results obtained, it is remarkable the representation of HVI as thin characters, the display of body parts considered erogenous, a fixation on the self and the intersection with various brand sectors, with fashion being predominant. Furthermore, the most frequent plastic signs are the medium full and medium shots, eye level shots, and the verticality of the image. Conclusions: The liquidity of the physical, aesthetic, contextual and social parameters used to design the identity of the HVI leads to a fluid representation of women placed in the service of commercial interests.

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Author Biographies

Sergio Jesús Villén Higueras, University of Seville

PhD in Communication from the University of Malaga. He currently teaches in the Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the University of Seville. He is a member of the research group Methodologies and Tools for Research on Visual Culture (HUM-999) and is part of the R+D+i project Repertorios y prácticas mediáticas en la adolescencia y la juventud: usos y recepción de plataformas audiovisuales online (PID2022-138281NB-C22). Her main lines of research are the Chinese social media landscape, animation and contemporary Chinese cinema, as well as the promotional strategies of cultural industries. He has published more than twenty book chapters in prestigious publishers such as Comares, Tecnos, Gedisa, Dykinson or Nova Science Publishers, and fifteen articles in various journals, some of them indexed in leading databases such as Scopus and Web of Science.

Almudena Mata-Núñez , University of Seville

Graduate in Journalism and Audiovisual Communication with the awards Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Sevilla, Real Maestranza de Caballería and Extraordinary End of Studies of the University of Seville, academic year 2017-18. Master in Linguistic, Literary and Cultural Studies (US), Master in Gender Studies (UNED), Master in Audiovisual Translation: Localisation, Subtitling and Dubbing (UCA and ISTRAD) and Master in Cinematography (UCO). She is a member of the research group in Image, Audiovisual Media and History of Communication (HUM1070) and of the R&D&I project Repertorios y prácticas mediáticas en la adolescencia y la juventud: usos y recepción de plataformas audiovisuales online (PID2022-138281NB-C22). Her lines of research focus on audiovisual narrative, gender studies and mass culture. Her work Memoria histórica y feminismo. Recuperación de la obra periodística de Luisa Carnés received the VII Premio de Investigación Rosario Valpuesta in 2022.

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