Victoria?s Secret is the largest retailer of women?s lingerie. Girls and women only wish to become a Victoria?s Secret model. I remember watching the Victoria?s Secret Fashion Show every year and wanting to be them. Each girl was perfectly tanned, toned and had legs that went on for miles. Who doesn?t want to be seen with those features? But, is this a realistic image that women should praise? Since the beginning of the lingerie company, the women that represent Victoria?s Secret have always been thin and have been perceived as the perfect woman.
A few years ago, Victoria?s Secret came out with its ?Perfect Body? campaign.
This was to advertise its new bra that supposedly had the perfect fit for every body. The ad displays a line of models all posing sexily in their underwear and in big white text reads ?The Perfect Body.? Is Victoria?s Secret trying to say that only super models have the perfect body?
Victoria?s Secret is known for the sexy women in underwear, but now to flat out say that they have the ideal ?perfect body?? To me, this was not the wisest of choices to run this ad as displayed as it was. I do understand that the company is trying to sell its Body bra that is supposedly perfect for every body type, but the wording was slightly misleading. Victoria?s Secret is a worldwide business and has the ability to influence the minds of women all over the world and how they should look and feel.
The ad did get a lot of backlash and the company soon replaced the old slogan with a new one that read, ?A Body For Every Body.? Now that makes a lot more sense!
Women are exposed to many ads that target their insecurities and this ad just adds to the fact that women should be thin and look like models and for men to be attracted to them. This fits into the critical media theory. Victoria?s Secret has branded themselves with the image of perfectly thin women and that has shaped our society to think that we should achieve this look. This company targets a large audience from teen girls to women in their mid 40s. Victoria?s Secret advertises their underwear in a way that if women buy them, they will feel more like a model. Well, for one, people usually wear underwear under their clothes, so no one is actually going to see it. Realistically, women do not walk around in public in their underwear showing it off to people. That would be absurd!
I know that it is highly unlikely that a plus size model would be in an advertisement for Victoria?s secret, but for this specific ad I think it would work and really make a statement for the company. There are plenty of women of various sizes that shop at Victoria?s Secret, but the company only displays women that are blessedly fit and skinny.
