With a “new version” on the way, Victoria’s Secret returns to the runways this year, after stopping in 2018. Unlike the controversies the brand has been involved in in recent years, the 2023 event will be able to count with more diversity.
The announcement was made last Friday by the brand’s financial director, Timothy Johnson, who saved details about the specific date and the show for later.
“We will continue to focus on marketing spend to invest in the business, both at the top of the ‘funnel’ and to support the new version of our fashion showwhich will arrive at the end of this year”, he confirmed in a meeting for the year 2022.
The company also highlighted that it will reinforce the “commitment to defending the voice of women and their unique perspectives”, adding: “This will lead us to take back one of our best marketing and entertainment strategies, but changing it to reflect who we are today. . .” This phrase and the Victoria’s Secret video being shared on social media suggest a more inclusive fashion show, with models plus sizeFor example.
The last Victoria’s Secret show was in 2018. and featured angels like Jasmine Tooke, Kendall Jenner, the Portuguese Sara Sampaio and the Brazilian Alessandra Ambrósio. The event, which also featured models Adriana Lima, Gisele Bündchen and Heidi Klum, was put on hold in 2019 after the annual show was cancelled. In question were the poor results in sales and television audiences. Controversies surrounding the brand occurred over the years. Controversial over the company’s “misogynistic culture”, sexual scandals and lack of diversity and inclusion.
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Still in 2018, the then head of marketing for the brand, Ed Razek, was criticized after, in an interview with Vogue magazine, he had rejected the idea of having a more diverse clan, with transgender models and plus sizeat Victoria’s Secret. “I don’t think we should. Well why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It is a 42 minute entertainment special. It is what it is,” she said.
In 2021, the brand said goodbye to los angeles and sought to reinvent itself with the launch of the VS Collective campaign in which the model plus size Paloma Elsesser, the LGBTQ+ activist Valentina Sampaio, the American soccer player Megan Rapinoe and the actress and businesswoman Priyanka Chopra Jones.
For now, It is not known if the same strategy will be maintained. However, reactions to the announcement have been mixed, with several users on the twitter social network with moderate expectations: “I’ll reserve my reaction until we see if they really have become more inclusive or this is all merely performative,” wrote one.
Others, like the american singer lizzo go further and celebrate the “victory of inclusion”. However, he raised a question: “But if brands start doing this just because they received backlash, what happens when the trends change again? Do the CEOs of these companies value true inclusion? Or do they only value money?
This is a victory for inclusion for inclusion’s sake.
But if brands start doing this just because they’ve received backlash, what happens when the ‘trends’ change again?
Do the CEOs of these companies value true inclusion? Or do they only value money? https://t.co/ykmcUTLayQ
— FOLLOW @YITTY (@lizzo) March 5, 2023
Source: Observadora
