Stylized vs. photorealistic celebrity avatars: What works best for brand endorsement?

Celebrity avatars—digital instantiations of real-world public figures—are increasingly used in brand endorsements, yet firms lack evidence-based guidance on visual style. Drawing on five scenario-based experiments, this study compares two dominant visual styles: stylized avatars (characterized by artistic, exaggerated features) and photorealistic avatars (closely mimicking the celebrity's physical likeness). The findings reveal a general “stylized advantage†: stylized celebrity avatars elicit more favorable brand attitudes than their photorealistic counterparts (Study 1). This effect is driven by a reduction in perceived commercial intention—a motive inference that mitigates consumer defensiveness and enhances trust in the endorsement (Study 2). However, the stylized advantage attenuates for utilitarian products (Study 3) and reverses for low-entertainment celebrities (Study 4) and serious brands (Study 5), where photorealistic executions better signal credibility, professionalism, and seriousness. Collectively, the findings show that visual style matters, explain why it matters, and delineate when it matters. This study offers a contingent, mechanism-based framework to guide style selection and provide actionable implications for optimizing celebrity-avatar endorsements.