Resurrecting Historical Figures: The Persuasive Power of Deepfakes versus Text-Based First-Person Narratives

Amid escalating ethical concerns over the viral spread of deepfakes, existing literature suggests that their sensory richness and enhanced realism evoke complex, sometimes contradictory, audience reactions. This study examines the persuasive potential of deepfakes by comparing audience responses to identical resurrection narratives presented in deepfake video format versus text format. Participants (N = 813, Mage = 37.28, SDage = 12.46) were exposed to either a deepfake video or a text-based narrative featuring a historical scientist (Albert Einstein or Marie Curie) recounting their life story and then completed scales measuring variables related to narrative persuasion. Contrary to prevailing assumptions of audiovisual superiority, the results revealed that text narratives elicited significantly greater transportation than deepfake videos. Structural equation modeling showed that this effect extended to downstream persuasion outcomes, including perceived realism, message credibility and evaluation, character identification, enjoyment, and sharing intention. Significant indirect effects of modality emerged across all persuasion variables. Multigroup analysis demonstrated partial scalar invariance, with Einstein eliciting stronger identification and enjoyment than Curie. These findings suggest that deepfake resurrection narratives engage distinct psychological mechanisms that may disrupt the persuasive advantages typically attributed to visual imagery and to deepfakes in particular.