UNGA KVINNORS TOLKNINGAR AV MODEVARUMÄRKEN I SPONSRAT INNEHÅLL. En kvalitativ studie om hur unga kvinnor upplever och skapar mening kring modevarumärken i sponsrade inlägg från influencers

Abstract

This study aims to examine how young women interpret and create meaning around fashion brands in sponsored influencer content on social media. Influencer marketing is a central form of contemporary communication within fashion, where commercial messages are often embedded in personal narratives. This creates a blurred boundary between advertising and authentic self-expression, making audiences’ interpretative processes particularly relevant to study. The study has a qualitative approach based on ten semi-structured interviews with young Swedish women aged 22-27 who follow fashion influencers on TikTok. During the interviews, participants were shown four examples of sponsored TikTok videos featuring different influencers and fashion brands. The material was analyzed using a thematic analysis, which resulted in four overarching themes. The analysis is grounded in the Social Media Influencer Value model (Lou & Yuan, 2019) along with previous research as an analytical framework. The results show that meaning is created through a combination of personal identification with the influencer, perceptions of authenticity grounded in transparency, experiential understandings of the brand and perceived coherence between the influencer and the brand. Influencers’ perceived authenticity is central in determining whether the content is experienced as trustworthy or as strategically commercial. Fashion brands are not interpreted only as products, but as symbolic resources connected to identity, lifestyle and social positioning. The study concludes that sensemaking around sponsored fashion content is a dynamic process shaped by the interaction between influencer practices, the symbolic meanings of the fashion brand, and the audience’s interpretative processes.