The representation of women in Victoria's Secret's lingerie campaigns

Abstract

According to Palmeira (2012), the Victoria's Secret brand was created in 1977 in San Francisco (USA) by Roy Raymond and for a certain time represented what was considered beautiful for women, featuring models who were generally thin, white, and had straight hair. The "Angels" were the brand's symbol, promoting extreme thinness and leading to the dissatisfaction of women who did not see themselves represented in those bodies. This form of representation began to be questioned, especially as feminist movements started to speak on the subject and with the creation of other lingerie brands featuring diverse bodies, Victoria's Secret felt the need to reinvent itself. In recent years, the brand has been updating its approach to female representation, with models of diverse hair, colors, and body types. This article seeks to analyze the representation of women in Victoria's Secret's lingerie campaigns and how this impacted the lives of the public who consumed them. Through the analysis of campaigns from 2020, 2021, and 2022, it aims to identify from the images of the models representing the brand whether this change was a momentary response to the topic's relevance or if there has been a genuine shift within Victoria's Secret. From the perspective of Hall (2016), Wolf (1990), and Gentil (2009), it can be perceived that there have been relevant changes in the representation of women by the brand. In the analyzed period, a consistency in the new approach was identified, which may indicate that this is not a momentary strategy for the brand