American Eagle Outfitters’ lingerie sub-brand Aerie, takes it all off of their models. “Time to get real. Time to think real. No supermodels. No retouching. Because… THE REAL YOU IS SEXY.”
The public is used to seeing beautifully thin models air brushed, photo shopped and made up to absolute perfection. Victoria Secret even came out with a campaign called ‘Love Your Body’ featuring these types of models. Dove also released a campaign known as ‘The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty,’ featuring models that shocked the world because they were plus size. Now, Aerie has recently released their new ad campaign called ‘Aerie Real.’ With this campaign, Aerie is leaving what has come to be known as imperfections on a woman’s body. From stretch marks, to tummies, to tattoos and beauty marks, nothing is hidden. No airbrushing. No photo shop. According to an article written by Jeff Beer called “This is who we are now: why Aerie Stopped Retouching the Models in its ads,” the senior director marketing Dana Seguin said, “This is now our brand. It’s not a seasonal campaign for us. It is now how we’re talking to our customers.”
Good Morning America, GMA, covered this story as well saying that Aerie caters to the young adult demographic where many young adults typically do not get to see lingerie models of their size. Aerie features bra specialist in their stores to help girls get the perfect fit for them. Along with in store, the Aerie website now features girls for each size bra. This means that if you were to search a 34DD bra, a model of that size is shown rather than a model in the same bra, but showing a size 32A. Each body is different and each size has its own needs. This gives a girl a better understanding of what the bra might look like on her body since someone who is her actual cup size is modeling it.
Along with the photos, American Eagle has also posted videos on Youtube with the title ‘#AerieREAL’ that take you behind the scenes with their new models. Aerie is also encouraging women to show off their real body with the same hashtag #AerieREAL. American Eagle Outfitters’ brand Aerie is stepping out of the typical mold of using tall, air brushed, busty beauties. They are adding to trend of companies showing that the ‘real you’ is beautiful. In the GMA interview Aerie says, “We’re hoping to break the mold. And we hope that by embracing this that real girls everywhere will start to embrace their own beauty.”
Aerie Gets Real