Virtual voices for real change: The efficacy of virtual humans in pro-environmental social marketing for mitigating misinformation about climate change

Abstract

Academics have focused their research on the rise of non-human entities, particularly virtual humans. To assess the effectiveness of virtual humans in influencing individual behavior through campaigns, we conducted two separate online experiments involving different participant groups: university students (N = 167) and U.S. adults (N = 320). We compared individuals’ responses to video-type pro-environmental campaigns featuring a virtual or actual human scientist as the central figure who provides testimonials about their individual efforts to prevent misinformation about climate change. The results indicate that an actual human protagonist evoked a stronger sense of identification compared to a virtual human counterpart. Nevertheless, we also observed that virtual humans can evoke empathy for the characters, leading individuals to perceive them as living entities who can have emotions. The insights gleaned from this study have the potential to shape the creation of virtual human content in various domains, including pro-social campaigns and marketing communications.