The brand’s scandals that lead it to social ruin
Mariona Alcubierre Caselles
The famous American brand Victoria’s Secret has been forced to suspend its show and renew itself due to the controversies in which it has been involved.
Victoria’s Secret has always been characterized by propagating an unhealthy body image by hiring, for example, only models with slender, structural and thin bodies. In addition, they have also published commercials about the ‘perfect body’, where only extremely thin actresses and models appeared. This fact led to the brand of being accused of promoting anorexia and imposing a “ridiculous ideal of beauty” on women. And although this incident may not seem like much, it was not the first time that the brand has been in trouble. So, below this article we will review all the controversies that have led the famous brand to social ruin.
The continuous controversies of the brand have as main character the one who was its marketing director before his resignation, Ed Razek. About 5 years ago, the brand was heavily criticized for not having enough black or skinny women in the show. In addition, it was one of the few brands that did not yet have trans women in any of its projects. And although a year later the brand contracted 19 models of color to expand its diversity, the words of Ed Razek were the straw that broke the camel’s back. The marketing director stated that the show was a fantasy, a 42-minute entertainment special and the only one of its kind, and that as a consequence, trans models had no place in the show. In addition, in a Vogue interview he explained that plus-size models had no place in the show because “they do not interest”.
The New York Times did a report on the angels of Victoria’s Secret, where they themselves decided to narrate the horrible episodes they lived with Ed Razek. The models explained the misogyny and harassment they suffered from him, along with other executives and the director of the brand. In addition, a hundred models signed a letter denouncing having suffered sexual harassment and pressure within the firm. We should also add that a former PR worker for the brand recounted that when someone tried to fight injustice within the brand they were punished being ignored.
Among other scandals, we also found the accusation of cultural appropriation in which the brand was involved more than 3 times. The most recent was in 2017, when Victoria’s Secret released a collection featuring outfits from different Native American tribes. As a last example, we have a controversy that reflects the very high demands of the brand. The famous 25-year-old Hungarian model, Barbara Palvin, achieved Victoria’s Secret angel wings in 2019. Although the only thing that nobody expected was that the brand would consider the young celebrity as a ‘plus size’ model; with the excuse that she is 1’75 and weighs 55 kg. Given this fact, many models of the brand admitted that they usually feed on liquids the days before the show.
The last big Victoria’s Secret show was in 2018, in which it received only 3.3 million viewers; a terrible figure considering that it normally exceeded 10. Perhaps, this fact is the result of the controversies of the brand. Given this fact, the brand decided to start a new stage and say goodbye to all the angels who have been representing it for decades. To compensate, they have replaced the cast with sports models, Olympic champions, activists and even refugees. Although, it seems that the brand attracts problems by itself, since it has been decided to present the new models with the following slogan: ‘No more angels, now , women with real bodies, empowered and committed to society’.
So, are we facing the possible future controversy of the brand? How will the former angels of the brand feel about these statements?
