Today I completed the poster task for Monday's Session. After having a lecture about changing the Fashion Industry, I found a lot of pledges by L brands (VS parent brand), they spoke about trying to cut out the use of wood pulp as it can be very damaging to rainforests across the world. They speak about tracing their materials in the pledge and being conscious of their 'Fashion footprint'. I didn't find enough information that was relevant to my campaign strategy.
The main problem with Victoria's Secret in my opinion, is their niche representation of women. I therefore wanted to showcase a compare and contrast poster with another brand to highlight the issue with the brand. I focused this on body image. Finding information of sales declines, protests, campaigns and what other brand we're branded as and why they are overtaking the lingerie industry.
-The first feature I wanted to input was Twitter, it's relevant to the generation market and to the online, mobile world we live in. Typing in 'Victoria's Secret Fashion Show', I was bombarded by hundreds upon hundreds of tweets from women putting themselves down and showing signs of low self-esteem. I wanted to focus on that even though around 800 million people watch this show, I delved into whether this does more bad than good. Furthering my research I'll look into the effects of the show, the window displays and the lack of size diversity of Victoria's Secret. The controversial statements they made and my proposal for the future of VS.
The poster kick started my research into the competitors in the lingerie brand. I found that Aerie (An American eagle brand) has had a huge boom in the industry. It has comfort, inclusiveness and celebrating all women at the forefront of the brand. Briefly seeing the rise in Feminism, #metoo movements and diversity, it suggests a huge correlation between what women value and search for when looking for underwear. Finding statistics through Mintel, women want more representation of the average size woman (UK size 16) when underwear brands showcase their campaigns. This correlates with the decline in Victoria's Secret and increase in Aerie. This is highlighted through protests, most recently in London with women from NuNude outside the London shop demanding diversity as they hold signs with "We want diversity for all brands" whilst in skin coloured underwear. These are happening all over the world. In Times Square, models had their own runway as they shared the hashtag #theREALcatwalk. I wanted to get across the message that women wont stand for brands excluding them from their campaigns, they are hiding women that are above a certain size and showcasing one kind of beautiful. Women are calling a boycott on VS, they are grabbing their signs and fighting back against a 90's ideal of beauty. This is the message my poster holds.
You could look at this poster as a half and half. You see the VS idea of beauty vs what women want to see and what women hold close to their values. The poster showcases the damages the shows have created to especially young women's self-esteem and body image. The second half shows the changes in society and suggests the changes Victoria's Secret could make. protests, statistics, news articles, and a more inclusive brand is shown to highlight the movements in society and in underwear brands.
The aesthetic of the left half is in the style of Victoria's Secret, their brand, marketing and online pages. The picture used is of model Adriana Lima, shown in red angel wings. The image used it to convey the danger of these shows shown by the devilish branding of VS as well as, the damaging effect of the shows portrayed by tweets from women surrounding it. On the other hand, the right half shows the changing society in what women value in brands and underwear. I've made a protest sign based on NuNude London protest and shown real images taken from Aerie's lingerie brand. The poster is heavily bases on the consumer. Through their responses, protests and stats it explains why Victoria's Secret is losing money.
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