Social justice warriors love to promote the idea of body positivity.
But this formerly popular lingerie brand bought into this woke lie and filled their ads with pictures of overweight models and trans men in their underwear.
Now, Victoria’s Secret is bringing sexy back for a very important reason.
About a year ago, lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret was forced to lay off 160 employees at the management level.
It was a drastic action that was desperately needed, and it was all because of decisions made by the company.
When the company voluntarily abandoned its focus on feminine beauty to make a play to appeal to the LGBT crowd, “body positivity” is directly correlated with falling shares.
With the company’s fortunes already in decline, it was easy to forecast that going woke would mean going broke.
Since that time, numerous other companies like Anheuser-Busch and Target learned that very same lesson the hard way.
As part of their move in a new direction, Victoria’s Secret hired far-Left LGBTQ pro women’s soccer player and outspoken leftist Megan Rapinoe as a brand spokesmodel.
A “transgender woman” was also hired for the role, and the “Angels” supermodels were canned.
The results have been nothing short of disastrous.
A tale of wokeness leading to woes
Fox News reports that the lingerie brand is expecting a revenue of $6.2 billion for 2023, which is 5% lower than it was last year and even lower than 2020, when the brand’s revenue was $7.5 billion.
In what must be an especially bitter pill to radical feminists everywhere, Victoria’s Secret’s sales declines followed the company’s move to make its board of directors mostly female.
Before the shift in focus occurred, Rapinoe herself derided the company’s message as “patriarchal, sexist, viewing not just what it meant to be sexy but what the clothes were trying to accomplish through a male lens and through what men desired.”
But a business’s purpose is to make money and not to cater to the whims of those favoring boutique social justice crusades.
That being the case, the company could either choose to bow to reality or die.
It now appears that those at the helm are choosing the former.
Chief Executive: Enough is enough
Chief executive Martin Waters admits that the inclusivity initiatives simply were not profitable and now says, “Despite everyone’s best endeavors, it’s not been enough to carry the day.”
The company now plans to bring back its runway show format and says it will blend the sexiness the brand had become famous for with some of its more recent initiatives.
Victoria’s Secret and Pink brand President Greg Unis now says, “Sexiness can be inclusive. Sexiness can celebrate the diverse experiences of our customers and that’s what we’re focused on.”
BusinessOfFashion now reports that the company’s new goal is to “improve profitability and cross back over $7 billion in annual sales.”
To that end, the company will now push newly designed activewear and swimwear and update its existing stores.
Four hundred new stores are also slated for opening outside the United States.
Time will tell if Victoria’s Secret can right the ship, but other businesses would do well to learn the lessons that the fading shopping mall staple has learned the hard way.
Informed American will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
