Manqing Wang

Manqing Wang

December 30, 2025

Virtual endorser, Media compensation, Technological genealogy, AIGC, Media Evolution Theory.

The rapid advancement of digital technology is reshaping the logic of commercial communication. Based on Media Evolution Theory, this paper focuses on the evolution of virtual endorsers from tools of technological display to carriers of cultural meaning. By tracing their technological genealogy, this study establishes an analytical framework comprising "Technological Compensation – Application Practice – New Technological Trap." It deconstructs the evolutionary trajectory of virtual endorsers from "media toys" to "social mirrors." A review of the development history reveals that the evolution of virtual endorsers is a discontinuous, upward spiral: essentially, each technological breakthrough acts as media compensation for the "traps" of the previous generation. While overcoming existing limitations, this compensation inevitably generates new technological traps, driving the media to continuously evolve toward a "humanized interface." This paper reveals how technological artifacts transform from instrumental tools to cultural carriers through the co-shaping of commercial mechanisms and social cognition. Finally, it discusses new challenges, such as human-machine ethics, within the context of virtual-real symbiosis.

© 2025, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license