Innovative technologies and their ability to grow rapidly are known to be a great source of controversy and paranoid reactions amongst people. The aim of this research is to examine the acceptance and perception of the technology of digital supermodels and influencers. This will be done in the global market of end-users where this technology has proliferated or has the potential to emerge. Digital supermodels and influencers were regarded specifically in a marketing context for this research, since the whole essence of their existence is for marketing purposes, and was approached as a new innovative technology. The research was divided into two parts, first was about conducting a questionnaire to analyse people’s acceptance of the technology, more specifically to examine the possible change in their purchasing behaviour. The purpose of the second part of given research was to examine people’s reactions and perception towards this technology through a content analysis of Instagram comments for the Instagram accounts of digital supermodels and influencers. The addressed innovative technology of digital influencers and supermodels is mostly perceived positively or neutrally. The significant amount of neutral positions in both parts of given research states the presence of confusion and the need for answers rather than lack of interest, which is to be addressed by the creators and users of digital avatars in marketing in the fashion industry.

While it is very common for supermodels to make the occasional foray into cinematic performance, and some of them manage to turn these forays into full-time careers in acting, it is very rare that supermodel-actors are afforded any academic attention. This thesis seeks to change this through a case study of two supermodel-actors: Devon Aoki and Abbey Lee. Using a methodology that combines extratextual contextualization with close analysis of image and film materials, and grounded in a perspective that centers the body, it analyzes Aoki and Lee’s careers as they cross over from one form of stardom to another. The focus of the analysis lies in the way that the bodily capital which is the basis of their modelling work also informs their acting personas as they are shaped through their on-screen work, publicity and reception. Furthermore, the thesis applies the concept of niche stardom, adapted from Diane Negra, to illustrate how Aoki and Lee inhabit a stardom which is specific to certain audiences with specific values and tastes. The analysis finds that there is a significant overlap between Aoki and Lee’s modelling and acting personas, and that this overlap is channeled through the representations of their bodies which, are the sites of heterogeneous discourses of gender, sexuality and race.