The purpose of the study is to gain a greater understanding of how young women's self-image is affected by exposure to influencer marketing on Instagram. Also, the purpose is to explore how the impact of influencer marketing on self-image contradicts to the purpose of increasing the consumer's purchase intentions. The study is based on three theories; 'social comparison theory', 'social identity theory' and 'self concept theory'. Personal brands (influencers) tend to show an ideal image to increase purchasing intentions among consumers, but this image rarely coincides with how the individual sees herself (the actual self). This creates a larger gap between the individual's actual and ideal selves and is called incongruence. At this stage, the woman may feel dissatisfied with herself, and her self-image is negatively affected. In this way, the image that a personal brand produces on Instagram plays a major role in determining the size of this gap. By connecting the different theoretical frames of reference, a model has been created that contributes to the understanding of how young women's purchase intentions and self-image are affected when they are exposed to influencer marketing.

Through a deductive approach, semi-structured interviews were constructed as the qualitative method. The respondents who participated in the study are active users of Instagram and are frequently exposed to influencer marketing. The results show that young women in the ages of 18-26 are a target group that influencer marketing works on as all participants consumed products as a result of an influencer showing these. The results also show that the greater the incongruence between the actual and the ideal self of a young woman, the more her self-image is negatively affected. Incongruence makes it easier to compare your actual self with the ideal self of influencers. This became clearer with younger women in the age range who also generally experience poorer self-confidence. Older women with good self-confidence showed stronger congruence between the actual and the ideal self. Thus, they are not affected to the extent that younger women tend to be. Based on the results, it turned out that 'self concept theory' was the theory that was most central to our study as it explains the inner conflict that often arises between the actual and the best self. Personal branding is also believed to be an important block between 'social comparison theory' and 'social identity theory'. The conclusion of the study is that young women's purchasing intentions are increased when exposed to influencer marketing, but that a negative impact on self-image differs. Younger women tend to be affected to a greater extent than older women.