The most recent time being the CEO of VS refusing to use any plus size or Transgender models in his shows due to it not fitting into their fantasy. This has caused huge controversy in the media as celebrities and big influencers have spoke out about this.
Source: https://www.vogue.com/article/victorias-secret-ed-razek-monica-mitro-interview
An interview that vogue had with creative director of VS ED Razek caused huge controversy worldwide due to his comments on Trans-Gender and Plus Size Models. The quote from the interview in context is speaking on the Instagram generational shifts and if they want something new from VS. Here is Razek's response
" Do I think about diversity? Yes. Does the brand think about diversity? Yes. Do we offer larger sizes? Yes. So it’s like, why don’t you do 50? Why don’t you do 60? Why don’t you do 24? It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is. It is the only one of its kind in the world, and any other fashion brand in the world would take it in a minute, including the competitors that are carping at us. And they carp at us because we’re the leader. "
He carried on to say "We attempted to do a television special for plus-sizes [in 2000]. No one had any interest in it, still don’t. Our show is the only branded special in the world, seen in 190 countries, by 1 billion 6 million people; 45 percent more people saw it last year than the year before. Our direct business is growing substantially—double digits on a monthly basis."
From what we can gather, the shows and brand seems to be an elite. A niche range of models that need to work hard to be part of the 'angels' and fit the brand. They talk about the models making their own decisions to work hard to have a physically fit physique for the show and the community around the supportive system the girls have. The problem that the media have is that it isn't representative of all the women that are purchasing from the brand. Razek argues the point that they aren't afraid of competitors and continues to say that the bets selling bra worldwide is full of their logo. He said "The dominant characteristic of that bra is that it says Victoria’s Secret multiple times. Now tell me how it’s possible that that bra would be the number one most popular bra in the marketplace if people didn’t like the brand? Particularly if young people didn’t like the brand?". They go on to speak about logo love and how customers must feel proud to wear their brand, so they aren't changing it.
Razek in the interview also speak about why he does the way the things he does. That the brand is unable to please everyone and that the brand is that way because people like it. "I don’t think we can be all things to all customers. It is a specialty business; it isn’t a department store. I’m always asking myself: If we do that, what is the reason we did it? Why did we include that person? And did we include them to shut up a reporter? Did we include them because it was the right thing to do or because it was the politically correct thing to do? Do they take the place of somebody who worked for a year for the opportunity and cried when they found that they got it?".
From the other side of the things, the VS fashion show has skyrocketed in views from 2016, in 2017, it was filmed in Shanghai, China and seen by 1 billion people in 190 countries, this was a huge 45% increase compared to 2016. The views on the show were 5.5 million. However reports from USATODAY state that in 2018 only 3.27 million people tuned in to watch the show. The figures have almost halved over the past two years.
Even though Razek stated that the company wasn't afraid of competitors and was a lot more focused on what the customers were wanting rather than competitors. It seems they aren't listening to their customers either based on the feedback given after this interview. Razek said "But how do we have this one bra that outsells the [entire offering] of this noisy little competitor on its own? One bra that happens to have a Victoria’s Secret strap on it? What that tells me: Women want the brand to win. They want to buy the brand. And it is their first love and their first choice." Based on the feedback given, people have stated that VS has lost their custom based on their controversial statements and they won't be wearing them with pride anymore.
Gigi Gorgeous, a public figure in the transgender community and YouTuber has spoke out about these controversial statements. With over 2.2million followers on Instagram and 2.7 Million subscribers, she addressed these issues and Razek and said "You may be a leader but you're not a progressive one". Her YouTube video calling out VS and the creative marketing director has gained nearly 850,000 views. She stated that VS brought her into being a woman, explaining that this is where she bought her first bra and she finally felt herself. She explained VS should feel ashamed in themselves as she speaks on Winnie Harlow being a step forward but these comments being 10 steps back and a bad move for the company. Being such a huge influencer over social media she has spread the message of VS being uninclusive. However, reading the comments on the video, people seem to be defending VS saying they don't cater to everyone and one person said "Victoria's Secret isn't a charity company, they don't have to cater to people they don't care about".
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However, a huge amount of support and backlash to VS came from other Social Influencers. Tess Holliday being one of them. She is a plus size supermodel and founder of the organisation #effyourbeautystandards which promotes body positivity and celebrates women. After hearing about the comments VS said about trans and plus size models, she made an instagram post in response.
She speaks about the importance of supporting brands that "are doing what you want to see". She stressed that we should "Always support progressive brands" and tagged ASOS in her post. With 1.8Million followers and huge support in the plus size community, it's obvious she has a strong connection with her followers and this can have an impact on the brand. If she is standing up against the brand, her supporters will follow in her footsteps. However, she had received a lot of negative feedback in the comments stating that VS can brand themselves how they please. Very similar to the comments on Gigi Gorgeous' video. With 80,000 likes though, it's clear a whole lot of people are holding the same opinion that VS need to catch up.
One of the biggest and most noticeable reactions to the VS comments was a video posted by Nikita Dragon, with 3.6 Million followers, she is a YouTubeand influencer and part of the trans community. She had reacted with a video of her 'Selling the fantasy" that VS had stated that trans women couldn't sell. The video is similar to those campaigns of VS, including the fantasy bra and iconic angels wings.
Going back to another post about the impact of social influencers, around 54.4% of 18-24 year olds trust influencer post and 44.3% of 25-44 year olds trust what influencers say about brands. These huge percentages are proof that the influencers may have swayed the opinions of those who bought from VS. As a society we are being brought up in a more progressive and inclusive one, people are ebbing more aware of brands that need to catch up. This may be a huge reason for the decline in VS sales as they aren't reaching the mark of what we expect to see in brands in 2019.
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