Representing Brand Identity through Body Positivity on Instagram. A Thematic Analysis of the Aerie Brand

Body positivity that challenges the common portrayals of the unrealistic body has been familiarized and disseminated through Instagram. Body positivity entails the appreciation toward own body and the celebration of body diversity, as well as inclusivity. This notion is an increasingly important discussion topic among businesses, especially in the fashion and beauty industries due to their influential power in portraying the ideal physical appearances. As a consequence, several woman’s fashion brands have been adopting body positivity to promote their products and convey their brand identities by focusing on the embracement of diverse woman’s bodily looks. Given the importance of body positivity for fashion brands, this research attempts to identify how a woman’s fashion brand, namely Aerie, communicates its brand identity on Instagram through body positivity. The theories pertaining to body positivity elements, brand identity strategy, and authentic brand activism facilitate the identification of Aerie’s strategic brand identity on Instagram. A qualitative design was employed, making use of thematic analysis. The analysis was guided by the sensitizing concepts about authenticity in brand activism, diverse portrayals of woman’s bodies, body positivity movement, and brand identity elements. A thorough analysis of 153 Instagram posts from Aerie’s account has generated five main themes, namely ‘beauty on the inside’, ‘the power of Instagram’, ‘women’s body empowerment’, ‘fashion inclusivity for every woman’, and ‘caring toward own body’. The findings revealed that Aerie represents its brand identity on Instagram by embracing woman’s unique bodily features, cultivating appreciation toward own body, enhancing a positive mindset, and celebrating the diversity and inclusivity of woman’s bodies. All of these aspects are presented in the alignment of Aerie’s values, purposes, and practices, besides, shown on Aerie’s Instagram pictures and captions. Aerie also uses mainstream body positivity and radical body positivity approaches to frame its body positivity movement, in which the former is about the liberation of every woman to achieve beauty and an attractive body, while the latter highlights the support toward the underrepresented bodies. The results indicated that through Aerie’s identity, the brand tries to reshape the meaning of beautiful bodies by embracing woman’s unique distinct physical appearances and pointing out the importance of inner beauty. Given this research is limited to the interpretation of Aerie’s perspectives, future research could explore the effect of Aerie’s body positivity activism on customers.