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This project asks how fat stigma impacts customers' and retail workers' experiences shopping and working in plus-size clothing stores. Interview data highlight how customers and workers engage in emotional labor, emotion work, and aesthetic labor to manage emotions about the body and fat stigma. Moreso, it explores the commercialization of the body-positivity movement by analyzing the use of body-positive branding and marketing. A content analysis explores the website and social media presence of a contemporary plus-size store, Torrid, which is an example of a company engaging in body-positive branding and marketing. While results vary between the main website and social media accounts, they reveal that Torrid engages with customers in an inclusive body-positive tone and with intimate/friendly language via their marketing; however, Torrid does not fulfil its body-positive intentions when it comes to body and size inclusivity of its models. Interview data also highlight that customers do not find plus-size retail stores to be inclusive and body-positive spaces. Customers report they lack physical accessibility, affordable clothing, stock of extended sizes, or clothing for individuals with diverse gender identities. Customers and workers engage in emotion work, emotional labor, and aesthetic labor to negotiate between style, affordability, and accessibility.

This research implemented a multiple case study design to investigate the effects of aesthetic and emotional labor in the premium airline context of Emirates, in comparison to the low-cost airline context of easyJet. This was achieved through the conduct of interviews with flight attendants from each airline as they are the frontline employees who are mostly concerned with the implementation of these standards. Even before the recruitment process employees are introduced to the requirements of aesthetic and emotional labor as airlines aim to find those who will best ‘fit’ their organizational culture, and that through training they will be even more equipped to represent the company during their interactions with customers. Thus, flight attendants are regarded as a strategic resource that contributes to the competitive advantage and organizational performance of airlines. Taking into consideration that aesthetic and emotional labor standards define the very nature of flight attendants’ job and that their performance determines the organization’s performance, the potential effects on their performance cannot be disregarded. The main themes that were yielded through the thematic analysis of the empirical findings were found to be parallel to some of the performance factors in Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation, while aesthetic and emotional labor were located as components within identified themes. Thus, this provided us with a general theoretical framework that allowed us to further discuss our findings in connection to relevant theory. Results showed that the different operational business models as well as the different cultures of each airline mostly contributed to the differences that were found in regard to the implementation of standards between the two contexts. Aesthetic labor standards were found to have a stronger effect on employees’ performance in the case of Emirates due to the fact their supervision was stricter. In both cases, aesthetic labor standards were not found to have an effect on employees' performance when it comes to their interaction with customers. While easyJet was found to receive a more diverse training when it comes to interaction with customers, in both cases emotional labor standards were found to have an overall positive link to employees’ performance not only when it comes to interaction with customers but also when it comes to dealing with co-workers, managers and the demands of the job in general. However, the aspect of personality was found to be a moderating factor influencing employees’ understanding and following of standards. It should be noted that the results of this research cannot be generalized. Further investigation across different contexts and airlines is suggested so as to conclude whether the results are representative of a specific context.

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