Victoria's Secret wants your daughters to know what a "perfect body" looks like

I don't expect much from fashion advertising. I know that they're selling an idealized self-image, making people think that you can magically transform into an airbrushed beauty if you just buy their brand. It's a fantasy, like vacation advertising. I get it.

But this mall poster, at the new Victoria's Secret boutique in Ottawa's Rideau Centre, still irked me.

The Rideau Centre, at the nexus of Ottawa's bus routes and downtown business, shopping and tourism streets, is the favoured hangout of teens from across Canada's National Capital Region. This display faces the main escalators that hundreds of young people ride every day. And its implicit message, beneath the pun on the product name, is clear.

More than ever before, today's young women see the female body exposed, critiqued, and brutally shamed in the public and private media to which they are addicted. And the young men grow up in a time when viewing and judging women's bodies is a national pastime.

I'm not a prude. I think that nudity and healthy sexual interest are completely harmless. But setting up impossible visual standards for women (at least, those who don't spend four hours a day in the gym before being digitally smoothed and contoured) and emblazoning the words "the perfect body" over them is bound to cause insecurity in girls and impossible "standards" for the boys who will date them.

Add to this that the Ottawa VS includes the "Pink" sub brand — aimed at 15-to-22 year olds — and this gets even more creepy.

Do better, Victoria's Secret. We know you can.

Victoria's Secret reminds you that their models are to be seen, not heard

According to VS:

Supermodels Candice Swanepoel, Miranda Kerr, Doutzen Kroes, Alessandra Ambrosio, Lily Aldridge, Lindsay Ellingson and Erin Heatherton have fun decking the halls and putting their own spin on a Christmas classic in this adorable video for Holiday 2012.

"Adorable" is more appropriate for children and puppies. This was just kind of sad. Last year, Miranda Kerr was a role model for breastfeeding. This year she — along with the others — is a role model for dumb girls who are only there for their T&A.

I doubt that any of these models is this vacuous in real life, but the stereotype goes on. It may an ironic gag, but this video ensures that the guys who ogle them from darkened basement rooms won't be threatened by the idea that women are anything but eye candy.

Consent activists hijack the Victoria's Secret brand

Jezebel reports that a promotional e-mail is circulating, claiming that a new Victoria's Secret line "promotes consent to fight rape in new panties."

"Victoria's Secret is using its nationally-recognized image to lead the country in the next sexual revolution: CONSENT. PINK loves CONSENT is a new line of styles that reminds customers and their sexual partners to practice consent. You can join the "CONSENT REVOLUTION" at pinklovesconsent.com."

The campaign web site  even has a Victoria's Secret copyright claim.

But once you get into it, it's obvious that the whole thing is a critique of Victoria's Secret:

Limited Brands, which owns VS, has denied any involvement. (They're probably contacting their lawyers.)

It's a sendup on Pink Nation, complete with branding.

The group behind the hoax provide links to their campaign Facebook Page and Twitter, on which they are running a consumer lobbying campaign aimed at Victoria's Secret. (They also have non-VS-branded Pinterest and Instagram presence for their "consent panties".

Who is behind this? Feminist duo FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture have claimed credit.

Yesterday, young facebook users hi-jacked the social media outlets of Victoria’s Secret to promote something very different from panties and push-up bras. Within ten hours, over 50,000 people visited PinkLovesConsent.com, where they saw Victoria’s Secret’s image “promoting consent to fight rape.” 

The satirical website was launched at noon on Monday, December 3. According to the site, “PINK loves CONSENT is our newest collection of flirty, sexy and powerful statements that remind people to practice CONSENT. CONSENT is a verbal agreement about how and when people are comfortable having sex.” 

Through Victoria’s Secret’s social media, the concept of consent was cropping up in some unexpected places. The Victoria’s Secret facebook pages were flooded with “I heart consent” posts, excited campus reps were retweeting pinklovesconsent.com, and the “pink hearts” at pinknation.com were declaring their love for “open sex talk.” One employee tweeted, “I am so happy to currently have a job for a company that stands for something so beautiful!! @LoveConsent #victoriassecret #loveconsent”  Highschool students were tweeting “I’m loving the new @LoveConsent! Victoria’s secret goes feminist!” At the outset, 100 young facebook users were in one the prank. It just went viral from there.  

Here is what they hope to achieve:

Will Victoria’s Secret take a nod from the customer fan mail and change their styles? Fighting rape would be a major shift for the brand. Though they are a woman-focused company, VS has never taken a stand on any women’s issue. In fact, their current designs seem to lean more toward rape culture than consent. Their PINK brand, marketed at high school and college-aged women, sports thongs with the slogan “SURE THING” printed right over the crotch. Young women across the country are wearing underwear with “SURE THING” literally printed over their vaginas. We can think of one circumstance where a vagina is treated like a “SURE THING”: rape. 

So if Victoria’s Secret clearly would NEVER promote consent why use their brand for a consent campaign? The organizers say, “We could write a pamphlet about consent.  In fact, we have written and distributed pamphlets about consent.  But how many people are reading pamphlets about sexual practices and how many people are reading facebook post about Victoria’s Secret? Consent needs to become a mainstream idea. Condoms became a mainstream idea in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Just like pausing to put on a condom prevents the spread of STDs, pausing to check in with you partner prevents unwanted sexual experiences. 

Social media is becoming a tool for social change. We have seen the role of social media in revolution in the Arab Spring, but change Victoria’s Secret? “Probably not,” says the organizers.  “We’re not about taking Victoria’s Secret down.  We are about changing the conversation. The sexiness that is being sold to women by Victoria’s Secret is not actually about sex. It is not how to have sex, relationships or orgasms. It in an IMAGE of what it is to be sexy. So while we are sold cleavage, white teeth, clear skin and perfect hair no one is asking us how our bodies feel and what we desire. Victoria’s Secret owns the image of female sexuality, instead of women owning their own sexuality.” 

As the project went viral, some saw right through the shenanigans. Many who knew it was a prank openly wished that it was real.  After a first incredulous look and some detective work, Jezebel blogger Katie J.M. Baker said, “If only Victoria’s Secret focused on empowering women rather than objectifying them!” Bloggers wrote about how the Pink Loves Consent project makes women look powerful and strong. Jezebel users commented on the “fiercely real” body types represented on the site. “Too bad they don’t use some models like her for their regular advertising. The girl’s gorgeous and it’s awesome to see a different body style once in awhile.” A frustrated Facebook user commented, “Damn, I wish these were real. I just got paid.”   And a savvy Victoria’s Secret customer tweeted, “So I guess the #loveconsent campaign isn’t actually affiliated with Victoria’s Secret but they SHOULD BE I WOULD BUY SO MUCH UNDERWEAR.” 

Why do so many women love something they know is not real? FORCE made something that people want, but that a company like Victoria’s Secret can never give them. Imagine how different our lives would be if we put as much time and thought into sharing ideas like consent as we do into selling underwear. 

FORCE apparently used to sell their consent panties on Etsy, but the store is currently empty.

A very effective way to get attention, if you ask me. I hope the PR turns into an attitude adjustment about sex and consent, if only for a few of the people who were hoaxed.

Victoria's Secret and the case of the missing bum

Photoshop Disasters first made me aware of this mess on Victoria's Secret's Facebook Page. Not to be an ass about it, but don't you find something's... missing... from the model's body in the middle pic?

Yeah, you're not the only one.

The picture has racked up over 2,000 comments. And they're mostly negative:

Even the other adbloggers are chiming in:

What makes this particularly tragic for the brand is that their Facebook admin (and entire marketing staff) is apparently too busy being drunk for America to notice or even react.

Oh, and here's my favourite:

Wow. This kind of thing is happening so often, these days, that I think we need a new word:

Socialfreude (n): The perverse pleasure derived from the misfortunes of poorly-managed big brands on social media.

Victoria's Secret angel falls... to Jesus

Way back in 2009, model Kylie Bisutti competed for, and won, a viewer voting contest to become the latest Victoria's Secret "angel".

Nineteen at the time, Ms. Bisutti went on to ladmag fame with shoots like this:



However, throughout her modelling career she was a married, self-described Christian.

Earlier this year, she quit her short turn as a lingerie model because she had an attack of conscience:

“My body should only be for my husband and it's just a sacred thing. I didn't really want to be that kind of role model for younger girls because I had a lot of younger Christian girls that were looking up to me and then thinking that it was okay for them to walk around and show their bodies in lingerie to guys. 

“It was pretty crazy because I finally achieved my biggest dream, the dream that I always wanted, but when I finally got it, it wasn't all that I thought it would be. Especially being married I just wanted to keep my marriage sacred because divorce rates now in America are pretty high, and I just want to do everything I can to keep my marriage special.”

Pic via Chris Schmitt

This wasn't the first time Ms. Bisutti felt a conflict between fashion and faith; she actually didn't do much work for VS after winning the original contest, eventually stating:

"For all of you that were looking for me in the Victorias Secret runway show this year, I wasn't in it. I have decided not to model lingerie Because I personally feel that I am not honoring God or my husband by doing it. My marriage is very important & with divorce rates rising I want to do everything I can to protect my marriage and be respectful to my husband. God graciously gave me this marriage and this life and my desire is to live a Godly faithful life, I don't however judge others for what they do. Everyone is convicted on different levels."

But she kept working.



I can't criticize a this woman for her desire to stop having herself objectified by the fashion industry, even if I don't think religion is the best reason to do so.

Hell, I wish her luck. Married at 19, and jaded by 21, she'll need it.

F'd Ad Fridays: Underwear models show off their intellect

This video Christmas card from Victoria's Secret isn't doing any favours for the dignity of the modelling trade.



What a bunch of boobs.

Via Illegal Advertising

F'd Ad Fridays: Not a Victoria's Secret ad

But it really should be. Hilarious.

Is this student Victoria's Secret QR tease good targeting?

Ad students really do have all the fun, mostly because they don't have real marketing departments, focus groups or pesky old budgets to get in the way of single-minded creativity.

This one from Miami Ad School (via I Believe in Advertising) takes a nice angle on the basic promise of expensive lingerie: that it's actually sexier to wear a little bit of fashion than nothing at all. And then it uses QR codes on apparently naked models to sucker (presumably) men into spending time with the message.

As I said, I presume the target is men who will then be aroused into buying VC frilly underthings for their beloveds.

According to Wikipedia, "Victoria's Secret was started in San Francisco, California, in 1977 by Tufts University and Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus Roy Raymond, who felt embarrassed trying to purchase lingerie for his wife in a department store environment."

But that was the '70s. What about now? According to the She-conomy blog, 85% of branded purchases are made by women. And sales are up at VC. Are those increases still being driven by men who want their wives or girlfriends to look like underwear models?

A case study for an online campaign (found on Slideshare) implies that men are still the target. However, a couple of years ago VC also launched "PINK" — a line targeted directly at teen and pre-teen (!) girls.

This is where I will give the opinion that these student ads are off. Because while sexy print ads, catalogues and online fashion shows attract aspirational female consumers as well as horny dudes, how many straight women are going to publicly lift up their iPhone at a billboard in the hope of seeing another woman's bare tits and ass? It's a pretty exclusive appeal. And I'm betting that young women are the brand's future.

As a publicity stunt though, admittedly it would keep the brand in the headlines.

What do you think? Are men still buying most of the lingerie?

Victoria's Secret manages to ruin football

No, not the Lingerie League.

This:



I don't get it either.

I thought you were supposed to cover up...

As Animal NY just reported, Marc Jacobs has enlisted Victoria’s Secret model Marisa Miller as his poster (okay, "t-shirt") woman for a campaign against skin cancer:

The campaign, which has previously featured Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum, Victoria Beckham, Winona Ryder, Rufus Wainwright, Eva Mendes, Julianne Moore and Selma Blair in the raw, has raised over $1 million for Melanoma Research at the NYU Cancer Institute.

According to the campaign Facebook page:

"The public awareness generated by the T-shirt campaign is enormous, not to mention the funds that have been raised," says Dr. William L. Carroll, director of the NYU Cancer Institute, who notes that proceeds of the sales of the T-shirts benefit IMCG. "We are grateful for the generosity of Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy in allowing the NYU Cancer Institute to focus on research and advancing clinical care."

The campaign was started bu Jacobs and his business partner, Robert Duffy, in 2006. Duffy is melanoma survivor.

But is showing skin really the best approach for skin cancer, rather than encouraging fair people to cover up?

At least they can wear the t-shirt to the beach.