Plus Is Equal?: Analysis of the Negative Social Media Commentary of Lane Bryant's Campaign
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The first national meeting of textile and clothing professors took place in Madison, Wisconsin in June 1959. With a mission to advance excellence in education, scholarship and innovation, and their global applications, the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) is a professional and educational association of scholars, educators, and students in the textile, apparel, and merchandising disciplines in higher education.
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September 14, 2015, plus-size clothing retailer Lane Bryant launched their #PlusIsEqual social marketing campaign. Social marketing applies commercial marketing techniques to programs designed to promote the acceptability of a social idea and voluntarily change behavior (Andreasen, 2003). This research analyzed the themes prevalent in the negative comments posted to the campaign. Currently, over two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese (Peters, 2014). Despite this majority consumer-base, plus-size models are nearly absent in high fashion magazines, and plus-size female consumers lack the same access to fashionable clothing (Peters, 2014). Additionally, obesity stigma is a pervasive and socially acceptable form of bias in North America (Puhl & Heuer, 2010). Of the 5337 tweets made in the first 30 days, 227 were negative in tone. The disapproval expressed fell into five main categories: criticism, reservation, contempt, sarcasm and externalizing. The findings highlight the presence of obesity stigma in the plus-size fashion industry.