代言人一直是企业进行产品或服务推广必不可缺的要素。近年来，随着人工智能和数字技术的进步，将虚拟代言人与现实产品相联系的“虚实结合”型营销方式，逐渐从根本上改变了营销决策，丰富了用户的品牌体验，也为用户提供了更多独特性价值。

现有文献大多关注的是IP型虚拟代言人（例如知名卡通人物）对消费者的影响，关于如今流行的高拟人化虚拟代言人的研究还存在一定空缺。同时，也很少有研究关注此类虚拟代言人对消费者产品偏好的影响，比如消费者对新产品的购买意愿。而创新是引领发展的第一动力，对产品不断进行升级创新，才能使品牌保持生生不息的生命力，因此如何提高消费者对新产品的接受度一直是企业和学界都十分重视的问题。基于此背景，本文讨论了虚拟代言人的拟人化程度这一设计要素对于新产品接受度的影响，具有一定的理论意义和实践启示。

拟人化程度会影响消费者的自我表达需求，进而导致消费者采取补偿性消费策略，因此本文检验了自我表达需求在虚拟代言人拟人化程度对新产品接受度的影响中的中介作用。同时，本文也探讨了虚拟代言人拟人化程度对新产品接受度的影响的边界条件。

本文通过预实验和四个实验研究发现，虚拟代言人拟人化程度会对新产品接受度产生消极影响，即虚拟代言人的拟人化程度高（vs低）时，消费者更不愿意购买新产品。这一效应中，自我表达需求发挥了中介作用，具体来说，低（vs高）拟人化程度的虚拟代言人形象会引起消费者的自我表达需求增高，而新产品与普通产品相比具有独特性，消费者购买时能够感觉到与众不同，有助于自我表达，因此消费者会通过接纳新产品以满足自我表达需求。另外，当消费者独立判断倾向或社会经济地位较低时，运用低拟人化的虚拟代言人能够显著提高新产品接受度，而当消费者独立判断倾向或社会经济地位较高时，虚拟代言人拟人化程度对于新产品接受度的影响不再显著。本文的研究结果在一定程度上完善了对于虚拟代言人影响的研究，也有助于品牌在实践中更好地运用虚拟代言人，进而提升消费者对新产品的接受程度。

Spokesperson is always an essential element for companies to promote their products or services. Recently, with the advancement of artificial intelligence and digital technology, a kind of “virtual-reality combination” marketing method — linking the avatar spokes-characters with real-life products, changes marketing decisions and provides users with more unique value.

Most extant literature focuses on the impact of IP derivative spokes-characters (such as well-known cartoon characters) on consumers’ behavior. There is a research gap regarding highly anthropomorphic spokes-characters, which are more popular nowadays. Meanwhile, there is also little research on the influence of avatar spokes-characters on consumers’ product preferences, such as acceptance of new products. Innovation is fundamental to accelerate development, and promotion of new products is vital for the survival and development of enterprises. Therefore, how to improve new products acceptance is always an important topic for enterprises and academia. In this context, it is of theoretical and practical importance to discuss how the anthropomorphism level of spokes-character, as a design element, can influence acceptance of new products.

The degree of anthropomorphism can affect consumers’ need for self-expression, resulting in compensatory consumption strategies. So, this research examines the mediating role of need for self-expression in the effect of anthropomorphism level on the acceptance of new products. This research also explores the boundary conditions.

This research conducted a pretest and four experiments. The results revealed that the anthropomorphism level of spokes-characters has a negative influence on consumers’ acceptance of new products. That is, when the anthropomorphism degree of spokes-character is high (vs low), consumers are less willing to purchase new products and need for self-expression plays a mediating role in this effect. Specifically, low anthropomorphic spokes-character enhances consumers’ need for self-expression, thereby increasing the acceptance of new products to meet this demand. In addition, if consumers have low independent judgment making or are in lower socioeconomic status, using anthropomorphic spokes-characters can significantly improve the acceptance of new products. However, for consumers with high independent judgment making or social class, the anthropomorphism level of spokes-character no longer significantly influences the acceptance of new products. To some extent, the results help to better understand the design factors of spokes-character and provide a new perspective for brands to better utilize spokes-characters and enhance consumer acceptance of new products.