Did Aerie's Non-Airbrushed Models Make You Want to Buy Their Panties?

In January, lingerie line Aerie announced that it would no longer photoshop or airbrush its models and nearly one year later, it looks like it’s paying off.

The American Eagle underwear line’s second quarter sales jumped by nine percent compared to the same time last year. Business Insider‘s writer Ashley Lutz reports that the line has tweaked other tactics besides their pledge to end photoshop, like selling Aerie products alongside American Eagle clothing in flagship stores instead of stand alone Aerie shops. On a larger scale, their success is emblematic of a not-so-new marketing shift.

Like Dove before them, American Eagle, British company Debenhams and others are tapping into our collective consumer desire for products that present themselves as promoting self-esteem. These advertisers are telling us that we woke up like dis so we don’t need their product to make us beautiful, which is like hopping in and out of the looking glass in the same conversation. The numbers show this marketing approach is working — Dove’s cloying real beauty campaign that many love to hate increased the company’s sales by 20 percent after its debut.