Leveraging tiktok aesthetics as a brand: do or die?
Is she that girl? Clean girl? Office siren? Tomato girl? Brat?! TikTok’s obsession with converging aspects of beauty, lifestyle, and fashion into one overarching ‘aesthetic’ is ceaseless, and with what feels like one ephemeral trend after another, it’s understandably difficult for brands to understand how to leverage them.
Read on to hear the results of our study into the #thatgirl aesthetic, and insight for brands wondering whether associating themselves with the latest aesthetics is doing more harm than good.
“Our study found that the brands our interviewees flagged as being synonymous with the #thatgirl aesthetic weren’t the ones that most commonly appeared in #thatgirl content. For us, this suggests that attempts to align with an aesthetic by collaborating with creators who are propagators of it, may not actually be all that effective. Aesthetics have taken on a life of their own, and while there are highly specific, codified rituals that are associated with them, when it comes to actual brands and products, consumers are typically associating products based on their understanding of the brand’s values, visual elements, and ethos,”
#thatgirl aesthetic
Social media users are waking up
While at one point users may have mindlessly consumed content and accepted the highly stylised depictions of life popular in #thatgirl content, our study found that this is no longer the case. Participants in our study, even those who self-categorised as passive TikTok consumers, were highly aware of the ‘attention economy’ at play on the platform. This is perhaps best summarised by the following participant response:
“They craft content with the sole intention of maximising views and engagement, rather than reflecting authentic experiences.”
Participants were also aware of content of this type falling under ‘aesthetic entrepreneurship’- a laborious construction of an identity of a woman who ‘has everything together’, with one participant noting:
“#thatgirl is someone who is desirable to be, who has everything together effortlessly, regardless of the work they put in to make it look simple.”
Aesthetics are problematic when it comes to diversity and representation
It’s no coincidence that some people resonate with aesthetics and others don’t. TikTok is a highly visual platform, and when the video protagonist that acts as an embodiment of an aesthetic, and your FYP is filled with visual replicas, it’s not hard to see what kind of message this sends to those that don’t fit the mould.
Our study of #thatgirl found three main barriers to consumers identifying with the aesthetic:
Visual identification: one participant said “I think this aesthetic is often portrayed by white, heterosexual women- not all the time, but it is a predominant factor. So as a mixed race, bisexual woman I don’t really feel I fit in.” She also noted that one of the main hairstyles promoted by the aesthetic- slicked-back hair- was difficult to achieve with her natural hair texture.
Alignment of values and beliefs: when the personal values of the consumer and the creator aren’t in alignment, especially where this matches neither the consumer’s actual self, nor ideal self, they don’t feel as though they resonate with them. One of our respondents highlighted: “There’s a Muslim version of the #thatgirl aesthetic that emphasises the morning prayer etc. which aligns more closely with my personal values and beliefs. However, the mainstream version fails to resonate with me.”
Wealth and socioeconomic status: “The aesthetic portrayed in these videos exudes an aura of affluence. In an era where many individuals struggle meeting fundamental needs, the imagery depicted creates a perception of unattainability, particularly for working-class girls who might not have access to these same resources,” says another participant.
How does this content make the consumer feel? And does it influence product aspiration and purchase behaviour?
A quick Google search will tell you that views on the #thatgirl aesthetic are polarised. Some of the participants in our study found the content to be aspirational in a healthy way, others had mixed views, and some felt it was downright damaging to their mental health.
Our study found that for those consumers who viewed #thatgirl as their ‘ideal self’, the content highlighted the disparity between their ‘actual self’ and the gold standard of actualised femininity. And while we found that participants had adapted aspects of their self-care routines by adopting the ones that were accessible to them, allowing them to engage in shared rituals, they ultimately still felt like an outsider due to the very specific archetype required to be #thatgirl.
Whether the consumer felt that the aesthetic opened up moments of self-love through self-care, or whether they felt compelled to participate due to self-loathing and extrinsic motivation, was hotly contested by the participants in our study.
Which brands and products are synonymous with the aesthetic?
Of those that did purchase these products, many felt that this moved them closer in alignment to the aesthetic in their own way. With one of the participants remarking that: “It’s like taking a step closer to achieving that desired aesthetic or feeling more aligned with the image I aspire to project. Each purchase contributes to cultivating my own version of the #thatgirl vibe.”
Interestingly, despite Glossier being the most regularly mentioned brand associated with the aesthetic among participants (12.5%), it only featured in 1.3% of the top 20 videos associated with the ‘that girl’ trend, the same amount as brands like Fenty and Balmain. Meanwhile, as a result of visual analysis of the top videos, brands like Caudalie, Gisou and Summer Fridays prevailed.
Should brands tap into trending TikTok aesthetics?
“Leveraging trending content is an essential aspect of a lot of brand’s social media strategies, but I’m urging them to do their research before aligning with them, and before working with content creators that are the main propagators of these aesthetics. It’s so important to have a brand-first mindset, hopping on trending aesthetics that directly contradict your brand values, ethos and messaging is more than a bad look, it can do irrevocable harm,”
Audace recommends that brands:
Take pause!
While aesthetics can appear to be simply that on the surface, it’s so important to understand how they’re making your community and target consumer feel. While reactive social strategies require brands to be super ‘on it’ out of fear of missing a viral moment, it’s undeniably better to miss out on that at the expense of protecting your brand and preventing later backlash.
2. Utilise social listening and listen to your team
Your first point of call should be your team, and if your team doesn’t reflect your brand and your ideal consumer through values, diversity in sexuality, ethnicity, religious orientation etc. then that has to be your first area to work on. Your second point of call should be research through social listening, how is your target audience responding? Are there any ethical issues such as lack of representation that you wouldn’t want your brand to be associated with, even loosely?
3. Consider whether it’s an organic alignment
Would the consumer naturally see your brand as aligning with an aesthetic without you forcibly positioning it as such? Are the look and feel, as well as the values of your brand emulated in the content associated with the aesthetic? You should also be selective in what you’re choosing to align with, TikTok aesthetics can vary from being flash-in-the-pan trends, or ones that withstand and evolve for longer periods of time (#thatgirl). But what’s important to remember is that TikTok trends are often short-lived, and sometimes recurring seasonally/annually. And no, your brand can’t be both clean girl and brat.
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