Plus-size women's representations in advertising: Forever 21 case

Abstract

The physical representation of women is a major issue in advertising. Some brands have opted for atypical models, which show what seems different but is common and real. Among them are the plus-size models and this piece of research analyzes their representations in the advertising of the American brand Forever 21. The goal is to determine if the concept of large size has been promoted, accepted and valued as a new representation of beauty. We proceed with a two-phase piece of research. The first identifies the general representations of plus-size women in advertising, explaining how new roles have been incorporated. For this, various documentary sources are used to observe how advertising promotes stereotypes and lifestyles. The second part explores Forever 21 advertising, on its official Instagram account, with a hermeneutical analysis based on Julio Amador Bech model, to which typography, shots, angles and takes are added. The images published for three months, from March 1 to May 30, 2018, were taken into account, noting that only 26 images out of the 682 published included plus-size models. This represents 3.8% of posts. Only the images where the models La'Tecia Thomas (plus size) and Fiona Barron appear at the same time were chosen. This allows us, at first glance, to make a comparison and suggests to us a very rich, unpublished and original analysis.