Authenticity in consumer resistance: SMI strategies for low-carb diet on instagram

Abstract

Objective. This study aimed to analyze how low-carb influencers seek authenticity in their image speeches posted on Instagram. Methodology/approach. The research was conducted under a qualitative and abductive approach. We collected 240 posts from 6 influencers that spread the low-carb philosophy. The images and their legends were analyzed, coded in 483 codes, and raised to higher categories, which made up 7 micro and 3 macro-speeches, from which we conducted the authenticity analysis. Main results. The influencers’ posts, according to the macro-speeches adopted, have different features. The low-carb conception is an emancipatory discourse; low-carb conduction, a traditional marketing discourse; and the anti-low-carb strategy, a consumer resistance speech. Theoretical/methodological contributions. The three macro-speeches form a conceptual model from which affirmative and confrontational discourses define the low-carb philosophy authenticity. It was possible to draw the flow of rationality-enchantment-struggle flow in which we analyzed the risks that the low-carb philosophy authenticity incur in each phase. Relevance / originality. The flow between rationality, enchantment, and struggle represents an intertwining of different theoretical approaches that explain authenticity, for the purpose of making low-carb philosophy authentic. Management or social implications. The paper helps to understand SMI speeches, showing when they shift to a more aesthetic or health-oriented perspective.