AcademicJournal of Interactive Advertising, 26 Jan 2026

A single negative influencer review moved neither brand image nor purchase intention among young adults, and neither did a single positive one

Creator content

Reader Note:: This is the study's pre-registered main test and it came out null. Brand image scored 4.11 after the positive review, 3.88 after the negative one and 4.07 with no review; purchase intention 3.42, 3.00 and 3.12; F(4, 207) = 0.85, p = .494. Read it carefully: the sample was powered for moderate effects, so a null here means a single review produced no effect of the size this study could have seen, not that deinfluencing is harmless. Each participant saw one TikTok review of a fictional sunscreen by a fictional influencer. The brand and product were invented on purpose, to remove prior attitudes — which also means the study says nothing about a real brand with a history. Vietnam was chosen partly because rules on advertising disclosure by creators had been proposed but not yet implemented there, so creators had unusually wide latitude.
Evidence:: Experimental
Vendor interest:: None
Sample:: Pre-registered between-subjects experiment with 210 young adults in Vietnam aged 18-30; recruited via private social media channels and snowball sampling; 70.95% female and 60.00% university students.

Good for

Backing budget and pricing decisions in similar situations.

Not for

Situations far from the one tested, without checking again.
This was measured in one market. It may not hold where you are.

TikTok video is the most common and recommended format for brand campaigns, while carousels, lives, and live shopping serve more specific goals

Brands repurpose creator content almost everywhere, led by websites

Share of brands repurposing creator content, by channel, enterprise vs overall
Channel	Brands overall (%)	Enterprise brands (%)
Website	58%	63%
Paid social or digital advertising	55%	57%
Organic social (brand-owned channels)	53%	60%
Email campaigns	43%	49%
Events	37%	40%

Open full graph

When speaking about AI optimizations, creators are most reluctant to replace their voice or likeness with AI

Share of creators who think AI shouldn't fully replace each creator task
Task	Share of creators (%)
My voice or likeness as a creator	41%
Filming or recording myself	37%
Engaging with my audience	37%
Content generation	33%
Video or photo editing	32%
Scripting or outlining	30%
Outreach to brands for partnerships	30%
Writing captions	24%
None - I believe all aspects could be or should be replaced by AI	5%
Other	1%

Open full graph

Go deeper on this topic

Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

Fixing your influencer marketing campaign: How to get into the top 10% of advertisers

81% of marketers say creator content beats brand-made content

Influencer content outperforms brand-created content81%
We have never tested the performance of influencer content compared to brand-created content8%
The same as our brand-created content6%
Underperforms our brand-created content4%

How brand marketers rate influencer content vs brand-created content performance (%)
Response	Share of respondents (%)
Influencer content outperforms brand-created content	81%
We have never tested the performance of influencer content compared to brand-created content	8%
The same as our brand-created content	6%
Underperforms our brand-created content	4%

An influencer who posted a negative review was seen as more trustworthy than one who posted a positive review in this study

Most marketers check content for brand and quality alignment, but less than one in three review for resonance with the target tribe or for search optimisation

Content review criteria in the top 3, by what they check for (% of marketers)
Content review criteria	Share evaluated by (%)
Alignment with campaign brief (Brand)	81%
Visual quality and production value (Brand)	58%
Authenticity and natural tone (Brand / Consumer)	55%
Brand message accuracy (Brand)	52%
Compliance and disclosure requirements (Regulatory)	32%

Open full graph

A single negative influencer review moved neither brand image nor purchase intention among young adults, and neither did a single positive one

Good for

Not for

Related cards

Go deeper on this topic