History:
Roy Raymond
VICTORIA’S SECRET
In 1977, 30 year old Roy Raymond and his wife, with the help of family and loans, opened up their first store in Palo Alto, California. The idea arose when Roy first went into a department store to buy his wife lingerie but only found ugly floral nightgowns that were displayed under horrible fluorescent lights. He also felt uncomfortable by the saleswoman who made him feel bad for even being there. He came to the conclusion that he must not be the only male who felt like this and noted that there was a great opportunity to create a new market: A lingerie store that is designed in order to make everyone shopping in it feel comfortable. The name originates from the idea of a Victorian boudoir, and chose the name “Victoria” to conjure modesty and respectability of the Victorian era. The “secrets” were to be what was hidden underneath. Some say it was even named after England’s 19th-century monarch, Queen Victoria. Anyways, underwear was about durability and practicality in the 50’s and 60’s, but Victoria’s Secret somehow changed that. With the help of the women’s movement, and the fact that women wanted to liberate themselves, the intimate apparel industry responded with new
designs. Because of this, from their one store in the Bay Area, sales at Victoria’s Secret boomed thanks to their catalog. They were soon able to open three more stores in San Francisco, and by 1982 there were customers all over the country and the company had annual sales of more than $4 million (Barr, Slate, 2013). However, something wasn’t going quite right, and the business was near bankruptcy. In the 1980’s, Lesli Wexner, a man responsible for the boom and high mass-market in sportswear, was looking to branch out and stumbled upon Victoria’s Secret. He was able to quickly see what was wrong with the business, it was focused on appealing to men and women were the ones who were uncomfortable to enter because as stated by Wexner, “It was Victorian- not English Victorian, but brothel Victorian with red velvet sofas. But there was sexy lingerie, and I hadn’t seen anything
Like it in the US (Barr, 2013).” However, he saw the potential for the business and bought the stores and catalogue for $1 million. He studied European lingerie boutiques, redesigned the current stores and incorporated new products, prints, furniture, fixtures, and music in order to create a store that was inviting to women and a catalogue that was “modern and racy, with models who looked like they had just walked off the pages of Vogue (Barr, 2013).” By 1995, Victoria’s Secret had opened 670 stores across the U.S. and makes annual sales above $6 billion. Raymond wanted to remove the shame from buying what would be considered “unmentionables” and was actually able to make sexy undergarments ordinary, but Wexner made the idea a reality. It is now the most popular apparel brand in the world, with products settling in the drawers of almost every woman in the United States.
Victoria’s Secret’s Pink, introduced in 2002, has become very popular over the past seven years, introducing a line for girls and young women, giving them the opportunity to build a brand loyalty at a young age. They offer products such as panties, bras, yoga pants, loungewear, sleepwear, and accessories such as water bottles, backpacks, sandals, planners, and cosmetics such as lip gloss, body wash, and perfume. Pink products are different from the rest of the merchandise at V.S. because they are more fun and flirty, not so much seductive. Some people believe that the line is unethical because it is marketed to a very young crowd, and appeals to girls who aren’t necessarily at the age in which they should be even thinking about sex. It is believed that Pink objectifies girls and creates an image that is appealing to them that is inappropriate for their age. It’s almost as if it acts as a catalyst for
the premature development of girls. They have yoga pants with words on the backside. They have bras that visibly increase busts. They even have panties that say things such as “No Peeking,” “Call Me,” “I Love Boys,” and “You Want Me.” Pink products are different Cathay Financial analyst, Howard Tubin stated that “The Pink collection is an excellent idea because it caters to a different customer than the company’s core, slightly older shopper. The college crowd was sort of a white space for Victoria’s Secret that it needed to address (Bhatnagar, 2004). Pink is a great way to bring in business, however, the customers that are being brought in, are too young. In order to bring in a bigger clientele and create more brand loyalty, Victoria’s Secret targets girls who are too young to be worried about what kind of under garments they are wearing, even if they don’t mean to.
In 2008, an unpublished study was done by sponsors in Burkina Faso and found that Victoria’s Secret was purchasing from fair-trade farms who use “so-called foster children who are kept out of school and forced to work the fields (Simpson, Dontoh, & Bliss, 2012).” The cotton they were using for their organic underwear line was coming from a farm in which child labor was excessively used, however, Victoria’s Secret’s parent company, Limited Brands Inc., said that they had no idea of the situation and stated that they will take the matter very seriously because they don’t tolerate child labor. The practices were disclosed December 15, 2011. It was reported that children around the age of twelve were being forced to haul manure compost and complete work, laborious for most adults, for many months out of the year. So what exactly does fair-trade do? They certify a national union and are supposed to do, “surprise visits to places where child labor’s endemic (Simpson, Dontoh, & Bliss, 2012).” Because of growing scrutiny FairTrade International is supposed to be increasing criticism of farms where child labor is known to be prevalent. However, it is growing more apparent that this is not always the case. Victoria’s Secret took the marketing angle that this new organic
line would be beneficial to women and children. Victoria’s Secret is heavily reliant upon the ability to utilize the fair-trade label. Upon hearing the exposing reports, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret ensured the public that this was an issue they were concerned about and would be handling “swiftly” (Simpson, Dontoh, & Bliss, 2012). However, where is the plan for definitive action? If fair-trade is not checking and Victoria’s Secret is not checking, who is preventing foster children from working? Reports state that many of the farm owners are unaware that they are breaking the law. One farmer was under the false impression that as long as the children working were not his, it was OK. When speaking with Cam Simpson, the head of the Bloomberg News investigation, he was unable to guarantee that children would not be going back in to the farms to work (Simpson, Dontoh, & Bliss, 2012). Large corporations have the power to make a difference and the ability to prevent things from slipping through the cracks. Victoria’s Secret has been presented with an opportunity to build rapport with the public and eliminate forced child labor (Simpson, Dontoh, & Bliss, 2012). Only time will tell what course of action they choose and the role they want to play.
Victoria’s Secret’s ‘Perfect Body’ Campaign (started with the introduction of the bra collection called ‘Body by Victoria’) displays models such as Lily Aldridge, Behati Prinsloo, and Jasmine Tookes and features extremely skinny models with “The Perfect Body” running across the image. But… what is the perfect body? And why is an extremely skinny model wearing close to nothing perfect? Because in reality, not even the models used in the campaign really look like that. Photo shop has taken over the advertising world. It’s all about skinny, tan, bodacious, “perfect.” In order to create this “perfect” image that Victoria’s Secret keeps advertising about, there are people who sit behind desks all day photoshopping images to make sure there are no “imperfections.” There are people who are paid in order to tweak photos of women who are beautiful to begin with. But that’s what this world has become. A petition created in order to change the wording of The Perfect Body campaign reads “Every day women are bombarded with advertisements aimed at making them feel insecure about their bodies, in the hope that they will spend money on products that will suppo-
sedly make them happier and more beautiful. All this does is perpetuate low self-esteem among women who are made to feel that their bodies are inadequate and unattractive because they do not fit into a narrow standard of beauty. It contributes to a culture that encourages serious health problems such as negative body image and eating disorders (Moraski, 2014).” It is obvious that in order to make their products look “perfect” on their models, Victoria’s Secret uses Photoshop to fix any less than perfect attributes on their models. This is made so obvious in the failed attempts of images that have been published like when Marissa Miller’s entire left limb was erased (photographed in the right hand corner). There are less extreme errors like disproportioned breasts, missing fingers, and unreasonably large leg gaps, but the fact of the matter is, these edits are being made, setting an image for women to feel like they should meet and are shunned when they don’t look like the perfect model in the magazines or on
T.V. Models are genetic anomalies aided by Photoshop that perpetuate a standard that is virtually unattainable for women. It is unethical for Victoria’s Secret to create an alluring yet impossible standard to maintain and for girls to attain.
The last reason to discuss on why Victoria’s Secret is unethical would be their annual fashion show. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show hosts the Victoria’s Secret angels to strut around in barely any clothing (bras and underwear) and cause men to drool and women to question what “perfection” really is. While the women in the fashion show are all gorgeous, the women who are watching it all over can’t help but wonder “Why can’t I look like that” and compare their bodies to the flawless VS supermodels. By the end of the show, most female viewers are uncomfortable in their bodies and at times depressed they can’t look like
the women on the screen. The models are supposed to represent women who embrace their sexuality and feel confident and sexy in their own skin, and the show is made to show off the companies new lingerie collection and ultimately sell products. Not only is the fashion show guilty of making women feel inferior, but it also sets unrealistic expectations of women for men. As the prevalence of media in society grows, women are flooded with images of what society deems is the “perfect” woman. Stated by Veronica Granja-Sierra, from the Elite Daily, “The pressure to achieve an unrealistic body ideal is now the underlying cause of serious health issues. Most girls are left with mixed reactions to the images they are seeing on their television screens. Aside from comparing themselves to the moDels on TV, women feel even more pressure to attain that idealistic body image (Granja-Sierra, 2013).” She also states that “It’s an impossible measure that sensationalizes these modes in order to build the fantasy for both men and women (Granja-Sierra, 2013).” Society has become so emerged in media it is becoming increasingly difficult to detach from the perpetuated stereotypes and dangers of chasing perfection to meet desire.
Bibliography Barr, N. (2013, November 13). Roy Raymond: The tragic genius at the heart of Victoria's Secret. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/roy-raymond-the-tragicgenius-at-the-heart-of-victorias-secret-8935811.html Barr, N. (2013, October 30). Slate. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from “Happy Ending, Right?”: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/when_big_businesses_were_small/2013/10/victoria_s_s ecret_founding_roy_raymond_had_a_great_idea_but_les_wexner_was.2.html Bhatnagar, P. (2004, July 30). Victoria's Secret teams up with coeds. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/30/news/fortune500/victoria_college/?cnn=yes Granja-Sierra, V. (2013, December 10). Why The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Is Damaging To A Woman’s Psyche. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from Elite Daily: http://elitedaily.com/women/victorias-dirty-little-secret/ Moraski, L. (2014, October 30). Victoria's Secret ad campaign causes a stir. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from CBSNews: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/victorias-secret-ad-campaign-causes-astir/ Simpson, C., Dontoh, E., & Bliss, J. (2012, January 23). Child Labor for Victoria’s Secret Cotton Examined by U.S. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from Bloomberg Businessweek: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-23/child-labor-for-victoria-s-secret-cottonexamined-by-u-s-.html