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#AerieREAL is a movement, created by American Eagle’s Aerie brand, used to encourage women to embrace their natural beauty.

Advertising the statement, “Love who we are, love how we feel, love what we wear, love the whole damn package,” Aerie encourages women to embrace all that they naturally have to offer.

Stating that “All you have to do is be yourself,” Aerie’s Body Positive campaign- is encouraging women to be comfortable in their own skin.

Rather than succumbing to society’s unrealistic beauty standards, Aerie only uses unedited and natural photos of their models on all of their content. Any Aerie advertisement you see is unedited and un-airbrushed. However, not everyone can relate to the real models.

An failed attempt to defy unrealistic beauty standards.

Flat stomachs, thigh gaps, tall and thin. But you can’t be too tall. No rolls, curves, or fat. Defined cheekbones, lips that are so full they don’t even look real, but they can’t be too big.

Stretch marks, tattoos, or birthmarks? Better cover them up.

These are the unrealistic standards that women are held to in our society. These are the standards that define “beautiful” and influences the way women perceive their own image while looking at themselves in the mirror or comparing themselves to others.

Social media is an extremely influential part of our lives and understanding how media plays a role in our self-love. Women shame their own bodies when they compare themselves to “Instagram models” because they feel they don’t fit this mold that they think society has deemed as “beautiful”.

As a woman who has personally struggled with body image and self-confidence issues for as long as I can remember, public figures such as Iskra Lawrence and Ashley Graham, not only make me feel more comfortable in my skin, but also make me feel like I belong.

Growing up in a society with these unrealistic beauty standards, I’ve always felt like I don’t belong. My curly brown hair and curvy figure never seemed good enough.

However, according to the new Body Positivity Movement and the effort that is being made to diminish these unrealistic beauty standards, society is seemingly making great strides towards changing this narrative on beauty.

Aerie’s ‘Body Positive’ Campaign isn’t for all body types.

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If you walk into any Aerie store, posters of young women at the beach in swimsuits and riding bikes along boardwalks line the walls. The overwhelming majority of which showcase non-retouched women who fit mainstream, white beauty standards and are “conventionally” pretty.

Since most of the photos in the #AerieREAL campaign display conventionally white, thin, and tall women, the message actually being conveyed to consumers is that white, thin, and tall is the ideal beauty standard.

Ultimately, the damaging message that Aerie is sending is that these women don’t need retouching. If you look like these girls, you don’t need Photoshop. They have the right skin tone, weigh the appropriate amount, are tall, and traditionally attractive. The message being that women who don’t fit into this beauty ideal actually do.

In “Why Aerie’s ‘Body Positive’ Campaign Isn’t” by Cora Harrington, Harrington asks the question,  “Is Aerie Real leading the industry in body positivity? Or are they simply doing what everyone else is… only with better marketing?”

Aerie’s claim to not photoshop their models is a step in the right direction. However, these are still professional, high-quality photos using young women who closely align with the normal standards of beauty.

Has Aerie expanded the conversation on body positivity and inclusivity?

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photo via: http://blog.ae.com/2018/01/25/introducing-aeriereal-role-models/

The unfortunate answer to this question is no. In fact, many believe that the #AerieREAL campaign has actually taken a step in the wrong direction for body positivity.

Although the #AerieREAL campaign seemingly has good intentions, they are only reinforcing the beauty ideals that skinny blonde women are the ideal depiction of beauty, that we already had.

Using models such as Emma Roberts and Iskra Lawrence, two very stereotypically attractive, white, blonde women does not help reinforce what Aerie is trying to represent.

The Role Models

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The original Role Model and body positivity activist, Iskra Lawrence, has over 4.1 million followers. This makes her an obvious influence on what body positivity is.

Joining the original Role Model is Singer-Songwriter Rachel Platten, actress Yara Shahidi and gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman.

Posting only unedited photos, these models bring to light an authentic beauty standard that is seemingly much more realistic.

So what does this mean for society and self- love?

This campaign was an attempt to enhance the body positive movement. However, it also sheds light on self-love and the body positive movement.

Unrelated to the #AerieREAL campaign, the body positive movement is a very encouraging and successful movement used to encourage unique body types and beauty standards.

Even with “plus-sized” models becoming relevant in the media, this is still reinforcing a toxic beauty ideal. The models that they deem as “plus-sized”, are more often than not, not plus-sized.

The media is constantly reinforcing an unreal and unattainable beauty standard. Therefore, it is important for us as a society to find other sources and reasons for loving ourselves.

Self-love is crucial, especially in our competitive society.

The fact that we are able to identify the flaws in these campaigns is a step in the right direction.

We must continue to identify the issues in advertisements and the media and work towards changing this beauty narrative.

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