Structured Abstract: Instagram Influencers and the Illusion of a Perfect Body—An Analysis Based on Bourdieu’s Theoretical Contribution

Abstract

A growing number of people are interacting on the web to express and share their views and knowledge of products and brands through social networks (Valck et al. 2009). For consumers, some social networks’ profiles serve as a reference in their purchasing decision process, since these profiles are perceived as giving their personal unbiased opinion (Efimova and Hendrick 2005). The fitness industry has been heavily influenced by the growth of social media, generating billions of dollars in revenues worldwide, including sales of clothes, equipment, and services. Within this context, this research aims to investigate interactions at Instagram, identifying how followers consume content from the fitness profiles on this social network—focused on body cult and physical beauty—and how this content may influence them. This study is based on the view of consumption as a social activity, capable of producing meanings and identities (Arnould and Thompson 2005), and uses the contributions of sociologist Bourdieu (1989, 1991) as a theoretical framework for the interpretation of the results.