Selling Wellness: An Analysis Of Goop And Poosh’s Visual Marketing On Instagram

In conjunction with the rising “self-care” culture, wellness has become a key consumer trend in Western societies. The multi-trillion-dollar industry can, perhaps, thank social media for its significant growth in recent years. With proven benefits pertaining to brand awareness, consumer engagement, and purchase intention, social media has become an integral element of the twenty-first century business, particularly within the wellness industry. However, social media scholars have yet to sufficiently address the corporate approach to selling wellness. Engaging with everything from mindfulness and nutrition to fitness and beauty, how do wellness companies market themselves in such a multidimensional industry?

This Major Research Paper explores the Instagram marketing strategies of two globally renowned wellness companies, goop and Poosh. A qualitative content analysis, guided by a visual social semiotic framework, was conducted on 100 of the companies’ most-liked image-based posts from January to May 2021. The findings of this study suggest that goop and Poosh’s content generates more likes on Instagram when it prioritizes the physical wellness domain, emphasizes celebrity affiliation, utilizes high modality, people-centric imagery, incorporates an aesthetic of concealment/fragmentation, and references a “link in bio.”