By Bedazzled lingerie, tousled wavy hair, celebrity musical performances, exotically beautiful models and a glittery runway.
The annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show aired on Tuesday on CBS, and the world tuned in yet again.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2015 took place at the Lexington Avenue Armory in New York City with the usual line-up of Victoria’s Secret Angels and special guests Ellie Goulding, Selena Gomez and The Weeknd.
Victoria’s Secret embodies the sexy, aspirational lifestyle that promotes women being and feeling powerful, sexy and confident. The company utilizes their famous “Angels” as spokeswomen who represent and craft a captivating image of the brand.
However, Victoria’s Secret has had their fair share of fails and pitfalls.
For example, the “Perfect Body” campaign in 2014 received heavy backlash for featuring 10 well-known Victoria Secret models, all with very similar thin, busty, long legged figures with the words “The Perfect ‘Body’” printed across their bodies. Consumers were outraged because the placement of the “Perfect Body” slogan delivered an unhealthy, unrealistic and damaging message about women’s bodies.
Victoria’s Secret is no stranger to Photoshop scandals.
The most recent Photoshop fail occurred in October when the brand posted a photo of a model from behind in a pair of their new mesh-back cheeky panties on Facebook and Twitter with the caption “Truly. Madly. Cheeky.” according to E! Online.
However, the model seemed to have only one butt cheek, resulting in backlash and countless comments pointing out the bad Photoshop job.
Victoria’s Secret already employs supermodels to create and market a fantasy, so consumers are understandably frustrated and outraged by the continuous stream of Photoshop fails because there’s truly no need to Photoshop them any more.
So despite the ubiquitous marketing campaign fails and repeated Photoshop fails, why do an increasing number of people consistently tune in to the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show?
Well the fashion show is much more than a show, it’s Victoria’s Secret’s biggest public relations push to keep the brand at the center of pop culture.
This year, 46 pairs of dreamy angel wings encrusted with tens of thousands of crystals from Swarovski, glitter and lights fluttered down the runway on veteran models, including Adriana Lima, Behati Prinsloo-Levine, Candace Swanepoel and Lily Aldridge.
As the largest lingerie retailer in the United States, Victoria’s Secret is a behemoth with control of 35 percent of the market share, according to The Business Insider.
Despite criticism of various marketing campaigns and repeated Photoshop fails, these incidents still don’t stop people from tuning in to watch the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show nor does it impact their sales.
It’s a running joke that the self-esteem and confidence of females notably drops when the show airs. Social media posts on channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, range from users jokingly crying as they eat junk food to vehement promises to hit the gym the next day.
So in a world that is increasingly moving towards self-love and body acceptance, it seems like the aspirational glamour and sex appeal of the Victoria’s Secret brand is still fascinating for the masses. However, the important thing to remember is that all the glitz and glam isn’t real life. As enviably gorgeous as those models look on that sparkly runway, they’re all human too and likely no stranger to feelings of insecurity, self-doubt and even waking up with a giant zit on an important day.
