From the high quality bathing suits, to the trendiest clothes, Victoria’s Secret has established a huge base of loyal customers of all ages and sizes – including many teenage girls like myself. As they may not always have time to make it to the mall, these avid shoppers can count on glossy, eye-catching catalogs to keep them constantly up to date on the newest products. However, are you aware of the content within those pages? Every model is skinny. Every model has long hair. Every model has an impeccable complexion. Every model is deemed “perfect” by society. When teenage girls see these photos, they’re being exposed as to how they should look. The connotation of the Victoria’s Secret catalog pictures generates unhealthy self-consciousness among young women. Every day there are women who look in the mirror and see ugliness, who don’t believe they’re good enough. Well, Victoria’s Secret isn’t good enough. The true ugliness lies within the pages of the Victoria’s Secret catalogs (morally wise; I’m not criticizing the Victoria’s Secret angels themselves). Victoria’s Secret’s advertisements should be incorporating models of different sizes, ethnicities and heights.
Victoria’s Secret is only one of many companies who abet insecurity. This is a world-wide problem: Magazines, billboards, advertisements, beauty products, catalogs, and even mannequins display famous, thin women. The biggest perpetrator within Victoria’s Secret is the annual Fashion Show. On the night of the most recent fashion show, it was as if my Twitter timeline was going to breakout into a war. Some girls questioned why they don’t look like the models, while others commented on how every Victoria’s Secret angel has a tiny waist. Also, girls acrimoniously argued back-and-forth over whether being a size 0 makes you attractive or not. Victoria’s Secret did display a lot of “zeros” that night: zero amounts of size 8 women, zero awareness of the detrimental affect it would have on its female viewers, zero naturally beautiful women, the models wore almost zero clothes and there were zero pizzas for these cadaverous women. That’s immoral and improper advertising. The Fashion Show is no longer a practical sales pitch like when it began in 1996. It has become an event where women wear practically nothing and abet insecurity among its viewers. Not every customer has a body shaped like the angels’. In fact, the label “angel” sends the vibe of them being the SUPERmodels, better than average people – the Ticonderoga brand of pencils. Yet, other pencil brands get the job done equivalently; just like other women are capable of modeling. Change is evidently needed.
As I’m sure you’re aware, Mrs. Turner, since you must be well-educated to achieve such a prestigious position, that self-consciousness and eating disorders are psychological issues that many teenage girls suffer from. Imagine being a teenage girl with low self-esteem. Every time you look in the mirror, you see unwanted curves and want to look like a Victoria’s Secret angel because you believe they truly look like angels. Every day you skip breakfast, ration your dinner plate, and feel relieved when you’re starving. Unfortunately, this is what the advertising industry has instigated. Victoria’s Secret does not need to participate in this immoral pursuit. Victoria’s Secret does need to participate in the healthy transformation of using women of various sizes to accurately model their merchandise. I assure you many customers would be pleased to see women that are closer to their size wearing the products they want to buy. This will discourage teenagers from feeling self-conscious. Furthermore, society will begin to face less pressures of not being good enough. Victoria’s Secret has been built up to one of the largest companies directed towards women, therefore can have one of the largest influences on women by having models of various sizes, height, weights and ethnicities. Why not have the variety package?