The luxury sector is undergoing a profound transformation, marked by complexity, volatility, and new societal and technological challenges. Traditional growth models show signs of fatigue, while institutional pressures push brands toward more authentic commitments to sustainability, ethics, and inclusion. Simultaneously, luxury brands face a rapidly shifting competitive landscape, with changes in global markets, consumer expectations, and technological innovation.
In this context, advertising is central to redefining the identity, desirability, and legitimacy of luxury brands. As Ko (2020) noted in a previous International Journal of Advertising special issue, the study of luxury advertising requires continuous theoretical and methodological renewal. Building on that foundation, this special issue seeks to advance conceptual, empirical, and interdisciplinary insights into how luxury advertising is being reimagined through artificial intelligence (AI), emerging technologies, influencer ecosystems, and sustainability. We especially invite contributions that explore the tensions between tradition and innovation, authenticity and automation, exclusivity and accessibility, and symbolism and data-driven personalization.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies are reshaping luxury advertising by enabling hyper-personalization, predictive analytics, and novel creative outputs. From generative content to immersive AR and metaverse campaigns, these tools extend luxury's narrative potential and promise new consumer experiences. Yet research highlights ambivalence in consumer responses: AI-generated advertising can appear inauthentic and misaligned with luxury's aura of craftsmanship and artistry. Success often depends on trust and perceived humanness, with consumers more receptive when AI is positioned as augmenting rather than replacing human creativity. This suggests that the integration of AI into luxury advertising not only offers opportunities but also introduces tensions that demand deeper theoretical exploration.
We invite research that advances theoretical and empirical understanding of how luxury brands can adopt AI without eroding symbolic value or authenticity. Relevant questions include how AI-generated avatars and chatbots alter perceptions of brand aesthetics, how predictive modeling balances personalization with transparency and privacy concerns, and under what conditions immersive technologies (NFTs, AR filters, metaverse campaigns) enhance rather than commodify the luxury experience. Current evidence remains fragmented, highlighting opportunities for deeper investigation of cultural, ethical, and aesthetic implications.
Influencers—whether human, virtual, or AI-generated—have become central to luxury advertising, shaping consumer aspirations and brand legitimacy across digital platforms. Their effectiveness, however, is contingent on credibility, authenticity, exclusivity, and cultural context, raising persistent tensions in luxury communication. While collaborations with influencers can amplify reach and relatability, over-commercialization risks diminishing attention, trust, and distinctiveness. At the same time, AI-powered tools increasingly influence this ecosystem—identifying influencers, generating personalized recommendations, and even producing content. These innovations complicate the balance between technological precision and the symbolic codes of luxury, highlighting an urgent need for systematic inquiry.
We welcome studies that clarify how different types of influencers—celebrity, micro, or virtual—shape luxury consumers' perceptions, and how effects vary across platforms, cultures, and generations. Key questions include how storytelling fosters parasocial ties, how authenticity can be preserved in AI-mediated collaborations, and how influencers interact with institutional pressures such as regulation and sustainability expectations. Advancing this line of inquiry requires not only testing effectiveness but also theorizing influence in a landscape where human creativity, algorithmic personalization, and aspirational symbolism intersect.
Research on sustainable advertising has yielded insights into framing, cues, and consumer responses, as well as unintended outcomes such as skepticism. Yet a decade after Taylor's calls for more research on green and luxury advertising, significant theoretical gaps remain. We lack guidance on how luxury brands can credibly design sustainability communications that align aspirational and ethical values. Progress requires moving beyond 'what works' to explaining why and under what conditions messages resonate, and examining both short- and long-term outcomes.
We invite research that reconceptualizes sustainable advertising as a mechanism not only for achieving marketing goals but also for advancing consumer well-being, social good, and environmental progress. Key questions include how to sustain consumer motivation post-purchase, what consequences follow eco-friendly luxury consumption, and how advertising can strengthen volition to bridge the intention–behavior gap. Emerging practices such as minimalist appeals and 'quiet luxury' illustrate pathways toward less materialistic lifestyles, but mainstream adoption remains elusive. Understanding which brand characteristics enable these shifts is an urgent research need.
Luxury's associations with craftsmanship, authenticity, and durability provide a platform for credible sustainability positioning. Yet tensions persist when practices such as recycled materials or fair labor standards conflict with luxury's symbolic codes of exclusivity. Future research should examine message strategies that integrate sustainability without diluting aspirational value and assess whether long-term equity gains offset short-term trade-offs. While much attention has focused on framing effects, higher-order execution formats—storytelling, branded content, interactive experiences, or influencer collaborations—remain underexplored.
AI, influencers, and sustainability are not independent forces but interdependent dynamics reshaping luxury advertising. AI-driven personalization transforms influencer practices; influencers amplify or undermine sustainability claims; and immersive technologies alter how consumers interpret exclusivity, ethics, and authenticity. Understanding luxury advertising thus requires integrative perspectives that connect these domains. We especially welcome interdisciplinary and cross-methodological submissions that bridge these themes to advance both theoretical and practical knowledge.