Over fall break, I came
across this new Victoria Secret TV commercial. As we all know, Victoria Secret
is one of the largest retailer of lingerie and is known for their marketing
strategy that relies heavily on selling sexuality, where models are often
featured in seductive positions, with suggestive facial expressions.
The commercial promotes the New Very Sexy collection that is “for all the lift and cleavage”.
This commercial features the Victoria Secret Angels Candice Swanepoel, Jasmine
Tookes, Lily Aldridge and Martha Hunt wearing the latest designs. The 15-second
commercial features the models in dimly lit rooms, arching their backs, pursing
their lips white seductively gazing into the camera. The dim lighting and
up-beat music gives the models a mysterious, sexy and playful image. Since I
was curious about this new collection, I decided to go on their website to
check it out. I couldn’t help but note that 37 out of 46 of the items in the
collection were push-up bras and/or bras that add-2-cups, which meant that 80%
of the collection was aimed to make the customer’s breasts look more
voluptuous.
Victoria Secret has created
a benchmark of female beauty by portraying their angels as women with
mesmerizing eyes, sexy lips, flawless skin, voluminous hair, and perfect
bodies. I noticed that most of the scenes in the commercial did not feature the
full body of the model, but rather focusing on different parts of the model;
her flawless face, perfectly tousled hair, voluptuous breasts and toned core.
Does this suggest that women are merely a construction of physical attributes? If
so, then Victoria Secret are objectifying women by depicting them as sexual
objects and women are not only purchasing their lingerie, but the image that
the model has created. Do we really want men to look at us, women only as
sexual objects? Society should understand that beautiful women should not be
draped in lingerie and in perfect shape. In fact, women of all shapes and
sizes, whether dressed in lingerie, pajamas or simple tee and jeans are also
angels who should be adored.
Sources:
https://www.victoriassecret.com/bras/very-sexy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SACOatsrsok
I really love your ending to this, that all women are angel's to be adored. I think my biggest issue with Victoria Secret in general is that even though it's saying that the lingerie makes you fearless and empowers you somehow, they are still relying on the sexualization of women to sell their products. So does this mean that they can't empower women at all due to their contradictory nature? Or that women who do feel fearless wearing this are just drinking the juice and lying to themselves? This isn't something I can fully rectify honestly as it may comment more on women's contradictory roles and versions of empowerment today.
ReplyDeleteI can not fully rectify*
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