Victoria’s Secret toning down? Not!

By: American Decency Staff

Early in 2008 Victoria’s Secret CEO Sharen Turney promised a toning down of the eroticism of Victoria’s Secret – stating their image had become “too sexyâ€Â and the corporation would instead return to a portrayal of “ultra feminineâ€Â resulting, one would assume, in a turning away from the explicit pornographic advertising Victoria’s Secret had become known for.   At the time we were wary yet cautiously hopeful that maybe, just maybe the company was finally listening to the countless ones who had called, written, signed petitions, boycotted, picketed malls in protest of their unwelcome erotic displays and television commercials foisted upon shoppers and TV viewers. For years we have encouraged such communications to Victoria’s Secret.  ADA has often been the one the media has turned to for comments on the over-the-top eroticism of Victoria’s Secret, leading to national television interviews such as on CNN in 2007.  This CNN interviewer even took our point of view stating he didn’t want his children exposed to the pornographic window displays when taking his kids to see Santa in the mall.    Christmas shopping season 2007 saw a number of protests/pickets nationwide of area malls led by shoppers fed up with the mall displays of Victoria’s Secret.  These protests, too, drew national media coverage. Soon after this flurry of negative publicity, and with reports of a significant drop in year-end sales, Victoria’s Secret made their big announcement of changing their image to one of being “ultra feminineâ€Â.  As we thought at the time, the proof is in the pudding.  Was this a true change in policy or just a desperate attempt to woo disgruntled shoppers disgusted with their eroticized displays? In the number of months since VS’s new policy, we actually have seen some improvement in the window displays of our area malls.  Yet, if last night’s so-called “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Showâ€Â is any indication, the proverbial pudding is still rancid.   There is no point in describing in detail the parade of cleavage and skin.  Cameras focusing on close-up shots of barely-covered breasts and bottoms – all while the models strutted seductively down the runways. This was not a show about “fashionâ€Â.  This was not even so much geared toward women.  This was all about appealing to men – a tool for lust.  The camera angles, the erotic poses and postures all with the purpose of eliciting a sexual response – and a flood of Christmas sales of lingerie by men who want their wives to live up to the image on display by Victoria’s Secret.  This was also blatantly obvious in the VS ads which ran during the commercial breaks – each ad in many ways even more pornographic than the show itself. One commercial entitled “One Gift – A Thousand Fantasiesâ€Â showed a montage of overt sexual displays of lingerie-clad women supposedly fulfilling the “thousand fantasiesâ€Â of men.  The moves, the poses all what one might expect to find in a strip club. This is what Victoria’s Secret is teaching young girls and women – they must look, dress, and act like strippers to please men.  I said above that the show wasn’t geared toward women, and yet it is.  This is the underlying message of everything about Victoria’s Secret.  During last night’s show they included a search for the next Victoria’s Secret model – disturbingly referred to as “angelsâ€Â.  More than ten thousand young women applied – young women who have bought the lie that their worth is dependent on the objectification of their body. Advertisers included AT&T, KFC, Netflix, Nikon, Reebok and numerous others.  By clicking on the link below you can send a prepared email that will go to all the advertisers who sponsored last night’s Victoria’s Secret show. (Please feel free to personalize your  letter.) Click here to contact advertisers: http://americandecency.org/take_action_form.php To see the entire list of advertisers, click the link below to go to our website. http://www.americandecency.org/archives/2738#more-2738 ===================== To support this ministry: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/main.php?f=donate/display9 American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson

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