Touching on the Idea of Untouched Photos

Posted by in COMM 101

I remember walking down the street as a young, impressionable girl and seeing beautiful, perfect-skinned, five foot ten, size 2 models on billboards and thinking that was what I was supposed to look like when I grew up. Fast forward 5 years and I look nothing like the models in those advertisements, in fact the models don’t even look like the models in those advertisements thanks to photoshop. In a society scattered with photos portraying unrealistic body expectations, it’s refreshing to see a lingerie brand promoting natural beauty and positive body image.3025443-inline-s-3-real-women-ads-aerie-1In Sukhleen’s blog post she talks about the release of Aerie by American Eagle’s recent campaign “AerieReal.” They have eliminated the use of photoshop in their ads and take pride in using models of a variety of shapes and sizes. This campaign has experienced great success and Sukhleen wondered where this success really stemmed from. She poses the question “Is it that [Aerie is] leading the market through their body positivity campaign, or because of their strong marketing capabilities?”(Thind). I believe that the campaign itself is what has provided AerieReal with such success. While marketing is important, there wouldn’t be something so powerful to market without the campaign itself; it is the point of difference to other lingerie brands such as Victoria’s Secret or La Senza, and what is truly engaging and connecting customers to the brand. They have shifted their value proposition from simply providing lingerie, to providing lingerie that represents beauty in women of all shapes and sizes. This allows Aerie to differentiate themselves from other competitors in the market and persuade consumers to purchase their products, not only because of the physical item that you get, but because of the values and qualities of the brand and the company as a whole.925102_464638713741569_514543424_n

I agree with Sukhleen’s statement that “Aerie’s voice and image [are] directly correlated with their increase in sales”(Thind). Aerie is trying to make a difference and that is something that I greatly respect; there are too many eating disorders and too much self-hate in women that are partially a result of advertisements that are highly manipulated to make models look unrealistically perfect. Aerie is a brand that I have developed an immense respect for, not necessarily because of the products they provide, but because of what they stand for. My personal goal for the future is to be able to make a living while making a positive change in the world, and that is exactly what AerieReal is doing. Naturally Aerie wants to increase sales and make more profit, every business does, and this campaign has satisfied that goal for them, but that does not hinder the genuineness of the values of the company or their campaign.

 

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