The popular retail store Aerie, which is the sister store of American Eagle, has a campaign to promote body positivity. Aerie primarily sells lingerie and swimwear for women comparable to Victoria's Secret, but instead of flaunting their products on a runway with breathtaking models, Aerie is taking a different approach. It is called Aerie Real and it is spreading hope throughout social media.
The campaign is focused around five different models, all with different body types showing that absolutely everyone can wear their items. The campaign also encourages girls to post about what makes them "Aerie Real" using the #AerieReal. By using that hashtag along with #aerieswim, there is an opportunity to be featured on the store's website, which is a brilliant marketing campaign for the store to promote their products along with a positive message. The whole point of the hashtag is to spread the idea of body positivity and love. The campaign's message on Aerie's website states, "No retouching, and thanks to your stories and support, it's also about body positivity and loving your real self. Inside and out." This means the models being featured are unedited and without Photoshop, quite the breath of fresh air.
Even though this movement is spectacular, I have just recently began to hear about it. It was released in 2014 and either I'm just really late to the party or this campaign is not getting the attention it deserves. If you head over to the website the first glimpse at the campaign is found after you scroll to the very bottom and do a little searching, which could be contributing to the lack of exposure this has. On Instagram the hashtag has around 34,000 posts which is a great number, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I was expecting a lot more posts since this is quite a popular retail name and such a positive message, but I also understand the difficulties that come along with it.
Of course the idea of people posting a picture using #aeriereal and immediately loving their bodies is wonderful, but that is unfortunately not reality. It is difficult enough for some people to post a selfie, but to post a picture in a bathing suit is an entirely different obstacle. While the goal of this campaign is to spread positivity towards all body types, there is still a social stigma to maintain the "model" look. I appreciate the company's message immensely, but there are still measures needed to be taken by other companies to promote the same message. If other stores don't follow along with Aerie's attempts to dismantle the stereotypical model type, their message will be silenced and we will be back at square one.
