Parents up in arms over Victoria’s Secret new campaign slogan
The Bright Young Things campaign by Victoria’s Secret which was launched to synchronize with Spring Break is making waves. Parents took to Facebook to voice their opinions and to accuse VS of ‘sexualizing our daughters’ and ‘making it hard to raise wholesome children.’
The campaign for its PINK collection has the message, “Bright Young Things – Spring Break Must-Haves. Tees, tanks, swim and sweats. Better and brighter than ever.” We can’t see anything wrong there but some parents are alluding that the message is not aimed at college-age women but for the much more younger crowd. Even though VS has issued a statement saying: “Despite recent rumors, we have no plans to introduce a collection for younger women. “Bright Young Things” was a slogan used in conjunction with the college spring break tradition.” That hasn’t helped to calm the storm. Parents are calling for the campaign to be pulled and are threatening to boycott the chain. One irate parent wrote: “You are selling out a generation of young women to make a buck with your “Bright Young Things” line. It is irresponsible and disgusting to market that level of sexually suggestive items to girls. As an adult, I will no longer be shopping in your store.” Another wrote, “You already do enough to undermine real woman’s and young ladies self esteem – now you want to further sexualize our daughters.” And that’s just the tip of the ice-berg. A petition demanding that the lingerie giant stop targeting teens has been sent to VS CEO Lori Greeley demanding that they stop hiring teen models and it also objects to the slogan “Bright Young Things” saying that it refers to young women as “things.” Although not all parents are “up in arms” over the new campaign, suffice it to say that VS is facing a backlash of negativity and that’s enough for any chain to sit up and take notice.
Victoria’s Secret has always been about sexuality and skimpy wear. It is honed to bare and accentuate the female anatomy with lace and satin and to whet the appetite for more and THAT has never been a secret. Should they stick to women and leave the teens out of the picture? What do you think?
By
T. J. Mueller
