Bellisario College professor rethinks AI’s role in advertising

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Yujin Heo sees artificial intelligence (AI) differently than most. Rather than using the technology to simply make life easier, she is exploring how it can be used in less harmful, more socially responsible ways.

Heo is an award-winning, widely published faculty member at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. Her research examines how the way information is delivered affects how people think and make decisions. Given its relevance, Heo has been “intensely focused” on AI-related research since joining the Bellisario College as an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising/Public Relations in 2023.

“AI is part of how people get information,” Heo said. “It affects how information is presented and interpreted. It’s definitely more efficient and saves time and money, but that doesn’t mean it works better.”

An eye on AI

While organizations are moving quickly to adapt and get an edge in the AI space, Heo said they don’t necessarily know how people are responding to AI-generated content, especially in advertising.

“What excites me about AI as a researcher is how much it can support people,” she said. “At the same time, I do have concerns, especially around things like job displacement and privacy. So, it's important that we think about how AI can be developed and used in ways that benefit society and work alongside people.”

In a recent study, Heo examined what consumers think about AI fashion models versus human fashion models. She wanted to know whether AI might be a better alternative.

“Brands tend to use thin models to make ads more effective,” she said. “We know there are downsides to that. The human models are not what most women look like, which can lead people to compare themselves, lowering body esteem and, in some cases, causing eating disorders.”

Heo found negative patterns when human models were shown. That pattern did not appear with AI-labeled models. She said one possible reason for this is that people don’t see AI-labeled models as a person they can directly compare themselves to.

“It suggests that AI could potentially be used in a different way,” she said. “Maybe as a less harmful alternative to human models.”

Another of Heo’s studies examined whether virtual, AI-generated influencers can replicate the impact long associated with celebrity endorsers. She saw this as a potential way to avoid scandals tied to celebrity endorsers. In that study, she compared how people responded when a human influencer was faced with a controversy. She then put a virtual influencer in the same scenario and tracked reactions to the brand.

“I found that when a human influencer is involved in a scandal, people evaluate that influencer much more negatively, and that negative reaction spills over to the brand,” she said. “A virtual influencer with a scandal performs better than a human influencer with a scandal.”

She added that human and virtual influencers performed about the same when there was no scandal, which, according to Heo, “from a crisis management perspective might cause a brand to consider using virtual influencers as endorsers.”

Supportive community

Originally from South Korea, Heo earned her doctorate from the University of South Carolina in 2023. When she arrived at the Bellisario College for her first faculty job, she found a “welcoming and motivating” community of faculty and students.

“What I really like about Penn State is the people,” she said. “My colleagues are very supportive and collaborative, and the students are also very motivated and engaged. I've heard people call this place Happy Valley, and I can definitely see why. It really feels like a very positive and close-knit environment.”

Fuyuan Shen, the Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Advertising and head of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, said in just three years, Heo has become a standout instructor and researcher.

“When Yujin joined us, she truly hit the ground running, delivering high-impact instruction in our advertising and public relations courses,” Shen said, “I’ve also had the privilege of working alongside her on research projects and truly appreciate her collegial spirit. She is the kind of dependable, insightful teammate everyone hopes for in a colleague.”

Heo’s primary courses are COMM 420: Research Methods and COMM 450A: Digital Campaigns. In COMM 420, students learn how to gather and work with data. They build an understanding of audiences and evaluate communication strategies. COMM 450A focuses on creating practical advertising strategies and running digital campaigns.

“Sometimes I can use my studies as an example. The students really like that,” Heo said. “It shows that my research is not only theoretical but also has practical implications for messages or brands or industries too.”

Heo said she is endlessly impressed by Bellisario College students, and admires their smart, diligent work. She admitted that she catches them at an overwhelming time in their college careers.

“Many of my students are seniors and they have a lot going on, like job searches, graduation and everything that comes with that,” she said. “I try to encourage them and support them through that, and I think they do a really great job staying on track.”

Because her students are often upperclassmen, Heo says she focuses on making her classes “as practical and relevant as possible.” There is a lot of hands-on work and real-world examples that they can apply when they start their careers.

“I don't want the material to feel like something that only exists in a textbook,” she said. “By the end of the semester, I hope students walk away with practical skills they can actually use with confidence. I want them to know that they have someone in their corner along the way.”