Chapter 4: The Ethical Landscape of Virtual Influencers in Service Industries: Implications for Social, Economic, and Environmental Concerns

The rise of Virtual Influencers (VIs) continues to reshape the influencer marketing paradigm. While VIs create new opportunities, they also raise significant ethical concerns, particularly in the service industry. This chapter explores these challenges, focusing on the socio-cultural, economic, and environmental implications. Socio-culturally, VIs appeal strongly to younger audiences and thus may impact their mental wellbeing and buying behaviour, among others. Economically, they raise concerns such as transparency and data privacy, while their digital infrastructure contributes to environmental degradation. The chapter discusses potential strategies for addressing these issues and suggests future research avenues to guide responsible and sustainable VI practices.