Influencers på Instagram, marknadsförare eller normbrytare? : En kvalitativ studie om stereotyper på influencers Instagramkonton.

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether traditional advertising strategies exist on social media posts made by Swedish fashion influencers. Furthermore the aim was also to identify any differences and similarities between influencers on Instagram. To do so twelve Instagram posts from six influencers were analyzed with a semiotic qualitative content analysis. When analyzing, several semiotic tools were also applied, including; Roland Barthes denotation, connotation and myths, and Charles Sanders Pierce three category system. To improve the studies reliability several theoretical frameworks were applied to our semiotic analysis. The theoretical framework included theories about gender, stereotypes and norms.  The analysis identified several patterns in the influencers posts. The most significant one was the fact that influencers in many ways have embraced stereotypes portrayed in traditional media. Women were portrayed with feminine stereotypes, and men with masculine. The stereotypes existed in both private and sponsored posts, but most frequently in the sponsored ones. Worth mentioning is that deviant behaviors were identified, from both women and men, in the Instagram posts. The deviant behavior consisted of portraits that deviated from stereotypical representations. In conclusion, our study also shows that influencers Instagram posts probably are primarily aimed at recipients of the same sex.