“Between a Regular Person and a Brand”: Managing the Contradictions of the Authentic Self-Brand

ABSTRACT

Drawing on qualitative research on personal style blogging, I examine how the marketization of self through the process of self-branding impacts self-presentation, particularly the performance of authenticity. My research suggests that one of the challenges to performing authenticity is due to the contradiction between the qualities associated with authenticity and the work which goes into performing a self which appears worthy of visibility. This research complicates analyses of branding which focus on authenticity as the source of branded value, while also elucidating the mechanisms by which performing branded selves impacts self-presentation.

KEYWORDS:

• Authenticity
• blogging
• branding
• self
• visibility
• fashion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Bebe Zeva’s Twitter page, accessed January 12, 2019, https://twitter.com/BebeZeva/status/320669909828907008.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer M. Whitmer

Jennifer M. Whitmer is an Assistant Professor of Sociology atCalifornia State University, Stanislaus. Her research focuses onexperiences of self, gender, and sexuality in late capitalism. Inparticular, much of her work has examined the impact of marketlogic on individuals’ relationship to themselves and others.