Marketing strategies are changing how businesses sell their products. The body positivity movement is causing consumers to examine companies to determine if their intentions are authentic. Some of the ways consumers evaluate company authenticity include examining corporate social responsibility reports, types of advertising, or the brand-cause fit between the company and the body positivity movement. The author of this study followed two companies (Dove and Aerie) that are known for body positive advertising messages and two companies (Mattel/Barbie and Victoria Secret) that are known for promoting unrealistic body expectations. The author examined each companies’ mission statement, annual report, and types of media being used to determine whether the companies were doing what they say they are doing. The researchers found that Dove and Aerie demonstrated company values consistent with their body positivity campaigns; however, both had opportunities to increase their emphasis on inclusion and diversity in their advertising campaigns and media presence. Mattel and Victoria’s Secret had inclusive and diverse campaigns and media presence but focused on empowerment of women rather than body positivity. In the final analysis, Aerie had the most consistency between its brand and its body positivity campaigns. Further, the author found that Aerie’s campaigns promoted true body positivity with models of various ethnicities, sizes, disabilities, and illnesses. Aerie has raised the bar for companies joining the body positivity movement by encouraging women to accept the “imperfect” bodies they were born with. This study has academic and industry contributions due to the comparative analyses of the body positivity marketing campaigns of American-owned brands. The results could inform companies of their strengths and areas of opportunity in consumer perceptions of brand authenticity and could provide direction for future studies focused on body positivity marketing.

The Authenticity of Body Positivity in the Media: A Comparative Analysis of Four American-Owned Companies Emma Mink and Dr. Kelly Atkins, Department of Marketing and Management, College of Business, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. Marketing strategies are changing how businesses sell their products. The body positivity movement is causing consumers to examine companies to determine if their intentions are authentic. Some of the ways consumers evaluate company authenticity include examining corporate social responsibility reports, types of advertising, or the brand-cause fit between the company and the body positivity movement. The authors of this study followed two companies (Dove and Aerie) that are known for body positive advertising messages and two companies (Mattel/Barbie and Victoria Secret) that are known for promoting unrealistic body expectations. The authors examined each companies’ mission statement, annual report, and types of media being used in order to determine whether the companies were doing what they say they are doing. The researchers found that Dove and Aerie demonstrated company values consistent with their body positivity campaigns; however, both had opportunities to increase their emphasis on inclusion and diversity in their advertising campaigns and media presence. Mattel and Victoria’s Secret had inclusive and diverse campaigns and media presence but focused on empowerment of women rather than body positivity. In the final analysis, Aerie had the most consistency between its brand and its body positivity campaigns. Further, the authors found that Aerie’s campaigns promoted true body positivity with models of various ethnicities, sizes, disabilities, and illnesses. Aerie has raised the bar for companies joining the body positivity movement by encouraging women to accept the “imperfect” bodies they were born with. This study has academic and industry contributions due to the comparative analyses of the body positivity marketing campaigns of American-owned brands. The results could inform companies of their strengths and areas of opportunity in consumer perceptions of brand authenticity and could provide direction for future studies focused on body positivity marketing.

BACKGROUND Exploring, on the one hand, the literature stream of authenticity and brand authenticity, and on the other hand, that of firm growth, to further connect the two phenomena. AIM Researching whether firms can achieve both above-average industry growth and brandauthenticity METHODOLOGY The study entails 21 firms evolving in three industries (beer, cosmetic and food-processing). Brand authenticity is measured through a consumer survey, while growth is measured through a comparison of financial numbers in an official database (Amadeus). FINDINGS Companies can achieve both above-average industry growth rate and brand authenticity

Background: Brands have started paying attention to brand authenticity since consumer demand for authenticity is increasing. Especially Gen Z is constantly seeking for authentic, inclusive, and diverse brands as they are the first generation to choose brands based on authenticity. Especially the LGBTQ community’s representation in advertising is often perceived as inauthentic and superficial. Since Gen Z is not only a big consumer of fast fashion but also the first to include fast fashion as part of their everyday life, the fast fashion industry is required to be more authentic in its use of LGBTQ in advertising. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how Gen Z perceives LGBTQ images in fast fashion advertising and how this impacts brand authenticity. Method: For this study, an exploratory research design with a qualitative approach was applied. Using an abductive approach, existing literature was used as a basis to create the conceptual model of this study. Further, a fictional fast fashion brand including five advertisements were created and presented to twenty informants during semi-structured interviews to gain a more in-depth understanding of the research problem. Conclusion: The study found that Gen Z’s perceptions of LGBTQ images in fast fashion advertising can be classified into three categories: positive, neutral, and negative perceptions. Informants with a positive perception perceived the brand to be authentic whilst informants with a negative perception the opposite. Since informants with a neutral perception sometimes had similar perceptions as the informants with a positive or negative perception, no clear answer on their perception of brand authenticity can be given.

Upon Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the outbreak of war in early 2022, brands around the world took a stand to mark their position against Russia and in support of Ukraine. Even brands that did not have any direct ties to Russia or any involvement in the conflict distanced themselves from being associated with Russia by ceasing operations, stopping sales, or changing brand names. Brands engaging in sociopolitical issues, i.e., brand activism, has become more prevalent in recent years and thus become a topic of research. Previous research on brand activism focuses heavily on the corporate perspective, and only recently have scholars studied the effects on consumers. Guided by the research question “How do consumers perceive brand activism and what role does brand authenticity play in their evaluation of genuine brand activism?”, this study aims to offer a deeper understanding of consumers’ views on brand activism and how they evaluate its genuineness using qualitative methods. With a starting point in a recent event that brands have engaged in, namely the war in Ukraine, the study reveals that consumers' views on brand activism vary greatly, and for the majority, brand activism is not a decisive factor in their choice of brand. However, consumers still have a positive attitude towards brands engaging in brand activism and some find it somewhat important that brands do it. Despite this, consumers do not find it necessary for brands to engage in sociopolitical issues. Further, the study found that, in evaluating the genuineness of brand activism, consumers tend to refer to the existing associations with a brand, how authentic they perceive the brand prior to the brand taking a stand, and how well the brand associations align with the sociopolitical issue the at hand.

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This dissertation explores elite athletes’ strategic personal brand management on social media. Social media have become a primary platform for personal branding integrated into athletes’ lives and careers. Yet, the psychological and strategic processes underlying personal brand management have lacked scholarly inquiry as extant research tends to focus on consumer perspectives as opposed to decision-making, negotiations, and strategies from the point of view of branded individuals. This has hindered the understanding of how personal branding is managed as a unique type of self-enterprising activity. In this dissertation, I employ a multi-study approach to address three issues pertaining to athletes’ personal brand management on social media, namely: 1) experience of fit in pursuit of personal brand monetization, 2) negotiation of authenticity in self-presentation, and 3) joint effects of brand fit, athlete brand authenticity, and self-disclosure tactics in athlete corporate social responsibility (AxCSR) promotional content. Theoretically, the dissertation advances a view of how athletes, as public personas, manage their personal brands on the verge between their personal concerns and identities, commercial demands, and expectations stemming from sports industry stakeholders. Practically, it delivers insights to athletes, their managers, and sponsors on how to optimize athletes’ personal branding experiences and business outcomes. / Tourism and Sport

Nowadays, people around the world are connected through social networks. This hyperconnectivity implies that companies need to think about the perceptions and opinions of consumers who were not directly targeted by a campaign. As a result, brand activism, an emerging phenomenon that describes companies taking a stand on polarizing sociopolitical issues, must be explored more thoroughly in relation to non-targeted markets. Therefore, this thesis examined perceptions of brand activism in non-targeted markets and the role of perceived authenticity in shaping consumer perceptions and attitudes toward these campaigns. Furthermore, due to an ethnocentric view of previous research conducted mainly in Anglo-Saxon and European markets, this study focused on a non-Western market, specifically Singapore. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with Singaporean exchange students to examine their perceptions of two brand activist campaigns launched in the US and Australia. It was also examined whether their purchase intentions and brand perceptions changed as a result of the campaigns. The results showed that a missing cultural context, poor communication by the companies, the politically and socially safe options taken by the brands in launching their campaigns, and the general belief that for-profit companies use activism as a calculated move to generate more sales, led to a lack of perceived authenticity in Singapore. It was also found that authenticity and brand attitude are perceived differently depending on geographic location and age group. Brand activism was perceived as more acceptable in Western countries and younger generations than in more conservative countries such as Singapore, and older generations. In addition, Western research on authenticity must be re-evaluated for non-Western markets and cannot be assumed to be universally applicable. Finally, the perception of brand activism led to neutral or slightly positive brand attitudes, suggesting that in Singapore, authenticity does not need to be assumed for activist campaigns to be successful.

With social movements like Black Lives matter, #MeToo and Fridays For Future on the rise consumers expect companies to take a stand on these socio-political topics. A new marketing strategy, called brand activism is used to communicate brands values and actions. This paper will conduct a case study of the company Oatly which has been standing out for its daring marketing strategies and analyze their visual communication by using the methods of visual analysis, semiotics and critical discourse analysis. The main research question is how Oalty uses its visual communication to convey brand activism. By analyzing one oat drink packaging, an ad campaign and an Instagram post the findings of this paper conclude that Oatly has several ways of communicating brand activism. These include the use of value based communication, referencing historical activism movements and the sociopolitical theme of promoting a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. The question arises about the authenticity of their opinions and the motives behind their brand activism. So whilst it's clear that companies like Oatly can convey the message of brand activism, this new marketing strategy needs further guidelines and methods of verification to ensure the use of authentic brand activism.

Yes / This study addresses a lack of research on the effects of consumer brand authenticity, brand image, and age, on brand loyalty in time-honored restaurants. Time-honored restaurants are long-established and well-recognized traditional restaurants that offer local or national foods and culinary culture. Empirical data were collected from 437 respondents in Beijing, China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to ascertain relationships between variables, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) validated the SEM results. The three brand authenticity dimensions were found to have differing effects on brand image and loyalty. True-to-fact authenticity had a significant effect on true-to-self authenticity, while true-to-ideal authenticity had a significant effect on brand image. True-to-self authenticity affects brand loyalty directly and indirectly through brand image. Some of the relationships were also moderated by consumer age. The results uncover the complexity inherent to consumer brand authenticity evaluations. They have implications for time-honored restaurants’ marketing and brand positioning strategies.