The lifecycle of a social media beauty trend and the impact of digital beauty-focused communities on consumers' body alteration behaviour.

In the last decade especially, social media have established as both a breeding ground for beauty trends and a cultural meeting point for interactions with these trends. Beauty ideals have existed within human societies for centuries and the media are identified as an influential force in their creation and proliferation. However, social media are unique in that these offer greater and more inclusive access to communication platforms. This is exemplified by the Instagram body, a body type characterised by a small waist, thick thighs, and large buttocks, which came into prominence via social media and has since become a decade-defining beauty ideal. The current study aims to explore the lifecycle of a social media beauty trend using the Instagram body as its case study example and to investigate the role of digital beauty-focused communities in consumers' engagement with these trends, as well as body alteration as a whole. Although fashion and product lifecycles exist, these were developed before social media and, as these platforms play a significant role in the creation and proliferation of contemporary beauty trends and ideals, it is argued that an updated model is needed to convey the beauty trend lifecycle and its influences. Interviews were carried out with influential stakeholders (fitness professionals, content creators and a cosmetic surgeon) who could observe and provide insights into changing behaviour and beauty ideals over a 10-year period. Additional archival data were collected through an analysis of song lyrics and YouTube videos to underpin the timing of specific stages in the lifecycle. Digital beauty-focused communities have emerged as a form of social media through which consumers engage with beauty trends, seek information, and other such activities. Despite their prominence, these communities have been notably under-explored within academia. Although consumer behaviour models exist to explain purchase journeys as a whole, the nuances of purchase decisions relating to body alteration are under researched. Interviews were carried out with female consumers who have pursued body alteration via surgical and non-surgical means but who have engaged with beauty-related Reddit communities as part of their journey. The findings reveal a six-stage model to convey the lifecycle of a social media beauty trend, consisting of emergence, mainstreaming, normalisation/peak, criticism/fatigue, discard and retrospective phases. Digital beauty-focused communities served several functions, including product and technique discovery, information seeking, and community support. Furthermore, consumers' decision-making process was found to be impacted by several factors such as offline exposure to beauty ideals, information access, financial access, desire for associated benefits, and life situations. The decision making journey for social media users who engage with beauty content and communities when making body alteration-based decisions was found to be punctuated by a significant time gap between major stages. Additionally, a cluster of stages were found to occur in quick succession. A gender perspective on the research findings is observed where social media beauty trends appear to impact women disproportionately, which could lead to instances of misogyny. The study offers a contribution to knowledge by addressing a research gap exploring the production and manifestation of social media beauty trends as well as user interactions with with beauty trends online and how these shape decision making and behaviour. A theoretical model is produced to illustrate the lifecycle of a social media beauty trend, which is of value to future researchers across a variety of disciplines, including arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Author dc:creator

• Uti, Tokoni Olufunto

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• M. Marcella-Hood, K. Cross and S. Burnett

• Social media
• Beauty trends
• Body alteration
• Instagram-body
• Gender perspectives

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:rgu-repository.worktribe.com:3027025
https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-3027025

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rgu-repository.worktribe.com:3027025