Aerie vs. Victoria's Secret

Both Aerie and Victoria's Secret sell the same clothing for women: lingerie, activewear, sleepwear, and underwear. These two companies have very similar target demographics but have chosen completely different paths when it comes to their brand image and can be clearly seen in their most recent advertisements. It has become increasingly noticeable how Aerie has tried to counter their competition's image and the company has chosen to take a stand on body positivity and inclusion. While Victoria’s Secret is known to have the idolized version of a woman on their advertisements, Aerie wants to use real people to model their clothing and leave the “imperfect” qualities of a woman, such as stretch marks, rolls, and skin discoloration, on full display. This advertisement campaign originally started out as a popular social media hashtag for the brand’s first unretouched photo campaign. Aerie encouraged women to join the conversation by posting pictures of themselves with the hashtag #AerieREAL on social media and the company used this content to advertise their brand. One way Aerie has differentiated the models chosen to market their clothing is by naming them "role models." These women have been specifically selected based on their careers and activism instead of their body type. Aerie introduced 7 new role models in 2019: actress and author Busy Philipps, actress and activist Jameela Jamil, artist and poet Cleo Wade, gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman, gay actress and activist Samira Wiley, blind Youtuber and motivational speaker Molly Burke, and Paralympic medalist Brenna Huckaby. The goal Aerie had originally to rid the company of Photoshopped images really resonated with women in their target demographic. Altered images are now considered a societal norm in advertising and researchers have found a connection between Photoshopped images and lowered self-esteem. Victoria's Secret has yet to comment on the #AerieREAL ad campaign but instead choose to promote their own brand image with women's empowerment and confidence in themselves while leaving out the idea of body positivity.