diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index bf6aaef8..a69d7e86 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 * New functions `mcmc_dots` and `mcmc_dots_by_chain` for dot plots of MCMC draws by @behramulukir (#402)
 * Default to `quantiles=100` for all dot plots by @behramulukir (#402)
 * Use `"neff_ratio"` consistently in diagnostic color scale helpers to avoid relying on partial matching of `"neff"`.
+* Replace uses of `geom_bar(stat = "identity")` with the more idiomatic ggplot2 form `geom_col()` 
 
 # bayesplot 1.15.0
 
diff --git a/R/bayesplot-colors.R b/R/bayesplot-colors.R
index a581a176..83977470 100644
--- a/R/bayesplot-colors.R
+++ b/R/bayesplot-colors.R
@@ -222,9 +222,8 @@ plot_scheme <- function(scheme = NULL) {
   )
 
   ggplot(color_data, aes(x = .data$name, y = .data$value, fill = .data$group)) +
-    geom_bar(
+    geom_col(
       width = .5,
-      stat = "identity",
       color = "white",
       linewidth = 0.1
     ) +
diff --git a/R/mcmc-diagnostics.R b/R/mcmc-diagnostics.R
index 2a71b8e0..92c6fef4 100644
--- a/R/mcmc-diagnostics.R
+++ b/R/mcmc-diagnostics.R
@@ -541,9 +541,7 @@ drop_NAs_and_warn <- function(x) {
       bayesplot_theme_get()
     if (style == "bar") {
       graph <- graph +
-        geom_bar(
-          position = "identity",
-          stat = "identity",
+        geom_col(
           linewidth = 0.2,
           fill = get_color("l"),
           color = get_color("lh"),