Persuasive Essay On Victoria's Secret
From the brand’s highly anticipated holiday fashion show to its social network sites and monthly catalogs, Victoria’s Secret dominates the lingerie retail market with its unique yet varied branding tactics. For instance, the brand’s parent company reported that during the five weeks around the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, comparable store sales got a 3 percent boost, equating to about $2.2 billion (Associated Press). However, the annual televised Victoria’s Secret fashion show brings more than just the sales, pretty models, and colorful underwear. It also ignites a yearly debate over the negative effect of the show on college-age women, who are the show’s target audience and more easily prone to eating disorders because of their high self-consciousness
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over body image. This paper will examine the negative effects that Victoria’s Secret’s marketing strategies, specifically the brand’s one-hour telecast that draws approximately 9.71 million viewers every year (Faughnder), have on college female students’ perception of body image and the rise of eating disorders.
Our contemporary society’s images of beauty - found on television and in advertisements, live shows such as Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and women’s magazines - are detrimental to women. According to Naomi Woft in The Beauty Myth, beauty is something of a double-edged sword (Wolf 17-18, 20). Even though beauty plays a legitimate role in our lives and in our attraction to one another, the problem comes when the society uses beauty as a weapon to make women feel bad about themselves by taking the concept of beauty to extremes that are literally unattainable for healthy women. A survey conducted in 2010 shows that of over 1,000 young women, “more than 88 percent of the women, all of them were within the normal weight range, overestimated the size of body parts. Only 12 percent said they were satisfied with their size and shape” (Chrisler 103). These facts show us how low women’s self-esteem really is and hint at the more serious problems that might associate with it. In 2010, the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders conducted a survey and found that 20% of more than 1,000 female college students admitted to having or previously having eating disorders. This number had increased by 15% according to the result of the same survey taken in the ‘80s (Smith). A big difference between the years the survey was conducted is the easy access to social media. For instance, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was widely promoted on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram even weeks before the show was aired. The wide promotion makes it hard to miss what the society calls perfect body standard. But while the media encourages women to live up to societal ideals and ultimately contributes to the rise of eating disorders in young women, it should be taken in consideration that our own attitude toward body image is a huge factor in the way we conceive ourselves. The level of self-acceptance possibly plays an even bigger role in driving young women to eating disorders, especially when women in our society, in my opinion, envy beauty much more than they appreciate it.
One of Victoria’s Secret most successful marketing strategies is the broadcast of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show to market the brand’s goods in high-profile settings. This popular annual show is a major event among young women all over the world. While beautifully crafted by artisans, the show always sparks a range of different reactions from the media. I took to Twitter last year to read what young women say about it. What I found was that the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is not exactly known for the product it is marketing but rather for its effect on the self-esteem of young women everywhere. On my Twitter timeline, I found two very different reactions: the bloggers and magazine editors who enjoyed the performances on stage, and my friends who suffered a serious loss of self-esteem from watching Victoria’s Secret Angels. Many tweets with the #VSFashionShow hashtag looked like this: “Watching the #VSFashionShow is like playing a game of chicken with my own self esteem. Which will end first?” “Nothing can make me feel so inferior as a woman than looking at VS Angels.” “RIP self-esteem.”
As it appears in the tweets above and many others that were posted on the evening of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, this show has proved to have an unhealthy effect on the self-image of young women. The social comparison theory, initially proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954, suggests that comparing ourselves unfavorably to others who have more accomplishments, seem more attractive, or make more money can greatly influence how we see ourselves (Hoyman). In 30 Days to Happy: How to Stop Negative Thoughts, Ashley Arcel comments that “comparison is the fast track to unhappiness.” She adds, “Women are so unforgiving of themselves. We don’t recognize our beauty because we’re too busy comparing ourselves to other people” (Arcel 19). Experimental studies have indeed proved the negative impact of viewing advertising images that illustrate the societal beauty ideal, which make women feel even more insecure about their body upon seeing those images. This hypothesis was by and by demonstrated in a Twitter study led by Jennifer Gorman. In 2011, Gorman and her fellow researchers examined 977 tweets sent before and during the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show that reference the show. Despite a great part of tweets essentially comment on what happened amid the show, numerous others discuss self-perception, dietary issues, weight, wishes for liquor, and consideration on self-hurt (Gorman). Those tweets are the evidence of upward social comparisons to the Victoria’s Secret models. From the result of this Twitter study, one can suggest that the young and vulnerable female audience are likely to experience negative affect and might engage in harmful behaviors during or after viewing the show, such as attempting to follow Victoria’s Secret models’ diet.
On Adriana Lima and other models’ extremely strict diet that consists of twelve hours without liquid before the show, the Victoria’s Secret stylist Sophia Neophitou comments, “It's like they're training for a marathon.
[...] It's the same as if you were a long-distance runner" (Whitworth). Neophitou’s wish to compliment the Victoria’s Secret models on their dedication to maintain good physiques is commendable. In general, for both modeling and professional sport professions, the work is a kind of high-end physical labor. However, diet for a supermodel should not be compared to the one for a marathon runner in order to prevent the audience from misunderstanding how unhealthy a supermodel’s diet really is. According to Danielle Katz, a sophomore runner on the Stanford cross country team, “Marathoners change their diets in the weeks prior to the race. First, they have a period of high protein, low carb, then a period of all carbs similar to that of a swimmer. However, no athlete would ever cut back on fluids to …show more content…
dehydrate.”
It is also noted that on average, the healthy percentage of body fat for women is between 25 to 31 percent (Jones). The physiology of the female body naturally wants to hold on to fat for reproduction. Because of this, it’s unrealistic for most women to reach a fat percentage at or below 20 percent like the Victoria's Secret models. In today’s society where many young women suffer from eating disorders and love to fantasize about obtaining a low percentage of body fat, it is very important to acknowledge how our bodies are different and that we shouldn’t try to starve ourselves to look like the Angels. You and your health are what matters, not anyone else’s opinions and assumptions of you.
Dealing with critics who point out our weight fluctuations is a normal part of growing up. Young women should learn to cope with critiques in a positive way by learning to truly love and accept their body instead of striving to look like supermodels, photoshopped images on magazines or the dolls of our childhood. Now is the time for us to celebrate who we are, not the media ideals we think we should be. Walking around fashion stores like Victoria’s Secret, Forever 21, etc., I can hear many young women complain, “I feel fat” while standing in front of the mirror. It is actually more about your emotions and perception than about feeling fat (Hoyman). Beating yourself about your body is a terrible motivator. The only change it creates is building more self-loathing. Therefore, rather than focusing on manipulating your body, it’s better to focus more on getting to know yourself, your belief, and your greater purpose in life. Every woman deserves to be loved and respected, regardless of her appearance, weight or shape.
Being America’s most favorite lingerie brand, Victoria’s Secret owes it to their customers, especially young women who are more prone to eating disorders, to partner with real women that represent a range of body types.
The company should bear its social responsibility of helping women to look their very best and embrace their body, instead of raising an unrealistic expectation of body image and downgrading a woman’s individual characteristics. There are not enough companies like Target that has innovative campaigns such as “Target Loves Every Body.” This type of much-needed campaign celebrates women and men of all body types and open customers’ eyes to the fact that everyone has their fit struggles and
triumphs.
While media and businesses should bear the social responsibility for its misrepresentation of female body that encourages women to live up to an oppressive and unattainable standard, learning to treasure our wonderfully unique and diverse physique is equally important. We need to work together to redefine the global vision of beauty, and it starts with becoming your own role model. You will never be perfect enough when you let other people decide how you should look, because they define perfection from the outside in. Therefore, it is critical that both men and women, especially the young generation, create a body positive environment. When we uplift ourselves and the important women in our life, we can create a safe space to express our body and our beauty for who we truly are, not because of who we’re not.
over body image. This paper will examine the negative effects that Victoria’s Secret’s marketing strategies, specifically the brand’s one-hour telecast that draws approximately 9.71 million viewers every year (Faughnder), have on college female students’ perception of body image and the rise of eating disorders.
Our contemporary society’s images of beauty - found on television and in advertisements, live shows such as Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and women’s magazines - are detrimental to women. According to Naomi Woft in The Beauty Myth, beauty is something of a double-edged sword (Wolf 17-18, 20). Even though beauty plays a legitimate role in our lives and in our attraction to one another, the problem comes when the society uses beauty as a weapon to make women feel bad about themselves by taking the concept of beauty to extremes that are literally unattainable for healthy women. A survey conducted in 2010 shows that of over 1,000 young women, “more than 88 percent of the women, all of them were within the normal weight range, overestimated the size of body parts. Only 12 percent said they were satisfied with their size and shape” (Chrisler 103). These facts show us how low women’s self-esteem really is and hint at the more serious problems that might associate with it. In 2010, the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders conducted a survey and found that 20% of more than 1,000 female college students admitted to having or previously having eating disorders. This number had increased by 15% according to the result of the same survey taken in the ‘80s (Smith). A big difference between the years the survey was conducted is the easy access to social media. For instance, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was widely promoted on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram even weeks before the show was aired. The wide promotion makes it hard to miss what the society calls perfect body standard. But while the media encourages women to live up to societal ideals and ultimately contributes to the rise of eating disorders in young women, it should be taken in consideration that our own attitude toward body image is a huge factor in the way we conceive ourselves. The level of self-acceptance possibly plays an even bigger role in driving young women to eating disorders, especially when women in our society, in my opinion, envy beauty much more than they appreciate it.
One of Victoria’s Secret most successful marketing strategies is the broadcast of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show to market the brand’s goods in high-profile settings. This popular annual show is a major event among young women all over the world. While beautifully crafted by artisans, the show always sparks a range of different reactions from the media. I took to Twitter last year to read what young women say about it. What I found was that the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is not exactly known for the product it is marketing but rather for its effect on the self-esteem of young women everywhere. On my Twitter timeline, I found two very different reactions: the bloggers and magazine editors who enjoyed the performances on stage, and my friends who suffered a serious loss of self-esteem from watching Victoria’s Secret Angels. Many tweets with the #VSFashionShow hashtag looked like this: “Watching the #VSFashionShow is like playing a game of chicken with my own self esteem. Which will end first?” “Nothing can make me feel so inferior as a woman than looking at VS Angels.” “RIP self-esteem.”
As it appears in the tweets above and many others that were posted on the evening of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, this show has proved to have an unhealthy effect on the self-image of young women. The social comparison theory, initially proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954, suggests that comparing ourselves unfavorably to others who have more accomplishments, seem more attractive, or make more money can greatly influence how we see ourselves (Hoyman). In 30 Days to Happy: How to Stop Negative Thoughts, Ashley Arcel comments that “comparison is the fast track to unhappiness.” She adds, “Women are so unforgiving of themselves. We don’t recognize our beauty because we’re too busy comparing ourselves to other people” (Arcel 19). Experimental studies have indeed proved the negative impact of viewing advertising images that illustrate the societal beauty ideal, which make women feel even more insecure about their body upon seeing those images. This hypothesis was by and by demonstrated in a Twitter study led by Jennifer Gorman. In 2011, Gorman and her fellow researchers examined 977 tweets sent before and during the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show that reference the show. Despite a great part of tweets essentially comment on what happened amid the show, numerous others discuss self-perception, dietary issues, weight, wishes for liquor, and consideration on self-hurt (Gorman). Those tweets are the evidence of upward social comparisons to the Victoria’s Secret models. From the result of this Twitter study, one can suggest that the young and vulnerable female audience are likely to experience negative affect and might engage in harmful behaviors during or after viewing the show, such as attempting to follow Victoria’s Secret models’ diet.
On Adriana Lima and other models’ extremely strict diet that consists of twelve hours without liquid before the show, the Victoria’s Secret stylist Sophia Neophitou comments, “It's like they're training for a marathon.
[...] It's the same as if you were a long-distance runner" (Whitworth). Neophitou’s wish to compliment the Victoria’s Secret models on their dedication to maintain good physiques is commendable. In general, for both modeling and professional sport professions, the work is a kind of high-end physical labor. However, diet for a supermodel should not be compared to the one for a marathon runner in order to prevent the audience from misunderstanding how unhealthy a supermodel’s diet really is. According to Danielle Katz, a sophomore runner on the Stanford cross country team, “Marathoners change their diets in the weeks prior to the race. First, they have a period of high protein, low carb, then a period of all carbs similar to that of a swimmer. However, no athlete would ever cut back on fluids to …show more content…
dehydrate.”
It is also noted that on average, the healthy percentage of body fat for women is between 25 to 31 percent (Jones). The physiology of the female body naturally wants to hold on to fat for reproduction. Because of this, it’s unrealistic for most women to reach a fat percentage at or below 20 percent like the Victoria's Secret models. In today’s society where many young women suffer from eating disorders and love to fantasize about obtaining a low percentage of body fat, it is very important to acknowledge how our bodies are different and that we shouldn’t try to starve ourselves to look like the Angels. You and your health are what matters, not anyone else’s opinions and assumptions of you.
Dealing with critics who point out our weight fluctuations is a normal part of growing up. Young women should learn to cope with critiques in a positive way by learning to truly love and accept their body instead of striving to look like supermodels, photoshopped images on magazines or the dolls of our childhood. Now is the time for us to celebrate who we are, not the media ideals we think we should be. Walking around fashion stores like Victoria’s Secret, Forever 21, etc., I can hear many young women complain, “I feel fat” while standing in front of the mirror. It is actually more about your emotions and perception than about feeling fat (Hoyman). Beating yourself about your body is a terrible motivator. The only change it creates is building more self-loathing. Therefore, rather than focusing on manipulating your body, it’s better to focus more on getting to know yourself, your belief, and your greater purpose in life. Every woman deserves to be loved and respected, regardless of her appearance, weight or shape.
Being America’s most favorite lingerie brand, Victoria’s Secret owes it to their customers, especially young women who are more prone to eating disorders, to partner with real women that represent a range of body types.
The company should bear its social responsibility of helping women to look their very best and embrace their body, instead of raising an unrealistic expectation of body image and downgrading a woman’s individual characteristics. There are not enough companies like Target that has innovative campaigns such as “Target Loves Every Body.” This type of much-needed campaign celebrates women and men of all body types and open customers’ eyes to the fact that everyone has their fit struggles and
triumphs.
While media and businesses should bear the social responsibility for its misrepresentation of female body that encourages women to live up to an oppressive and unattainable standard, learning to treasure our wonderfully unique and diverse physique is equally important. We need to work together to redefine the global vision of beauty, and it starts with becoming your own role model. You will never be perfect enough when you let other people decide how you should look, because they define perfection from the outside in. Therefore, it is critical that both men and women, especially the young generation, create a body positive environment. When we uplift ourselves and the important women in our life, we can create a safe space to express our body and our beauty for who we truly are, not because of who we’re not.