The iconic brand of Victoria’s Secret is known worldwide for its glamorous lingerie that drives men wild, and makes women feel beautiful. Though Victoria’s Secret also carries various lines such as perfumes and bath and body care, the company is most notably recognized for their huge selection of fancy underthings.
Victoria’s Secret has been under fire recently for the limited amount of clothing sizes offered. The spark that ignited the flame seems to be an ad campaign that ran last October. A line up of tall, super thin Victoria’s Secret models in playful poses were displayed with the caption “The Perfect Body.” One can imagine why any woman over a size four might take exception to this ad. Is Victoria’s Secret intimating that larger women are less than perfect? Or is this just an unfortunate choice of words to promote the Victoria’s Secret line of bras entitled Body By Victoria?
A huge uproar ensued, with negative comments on social media slamming Victoria’s Secret for this seeming lapse in good judgment. The company responded by changing the campaign to read “A Body For Every Body,” which may have made things worse, since they don’t actually carry lingerie to fit everybody. Social media is still rife with talk of the campaign. Cosmopolitan tweeted about it recently, sharing a picture from Dear Kate of women of all sizes posing in a similar manner as that of the Victoria’s Secret ad.
How 10 Brave Women Responded to Victoria’s Secret’s “Perfect Body” Campaign http://t.co/QrMODABwkL pic.twitter.com/pVnisUXYDa
— Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) January 18, 2015
Change.org has created a petition to encourage Victoria’s Secret to add plus size clothing to their stores, as well as plus sized models to their fashion shows. Go here to view the petition. They currently have 1,115 supporters, with another 385 needed. The website clearly explains why they feel the petition is so important.
Every year, as the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show approaches, you will undoubtedly see numerous women state publicly on social media how bad it makes them feel about their bodies. We should be equally offended about their use of models with only a very specific body type as we were about the “Perfect Body” campaign. The slogan change is hardly compelling shown in front of only extremely skinny models that represent less than 5% of women in the US. T hey are sending a message to the world that you have to be a size 0-2 to be beautiful and worthy of wearing lingerie. Victoria’s Secret is promoting self-loathing and it needs to stop.
Certainly Victoria’s Secret has the right to sell whatever products they choose, in as few or as many sizes as they desire. Will the iconic Victoria’s Secret be swayed by the public outcry for clothing and models with a more average body style? What are your opinions?
[Feature image via Dear Kate (Note: the photo is not of actual Victoria’s Secret models, but a campaign in response to the Perfect Body ad.)]
[Image via Business Insider ]