UPDATE: Victoria's Secret have not issued a statement on the petition, but have changed the wording on their marketing material to replace 'The "Perfect" Body' with 'A Body For Every Body'
Victoria's Secret isn't that the models the company uses are thin, booby and classically beautiful. That’s out there. And that's cool by us, we get that's how they want to advertise their wares. However, a recent campaign, which sees 12 women lined up, wearing just Victoria's Secret underwear, along with the slogan 'The "Perfect" Body' across their bodies, has got them into trouble with thousands of activists (2,700 at our last count) who've taken to a Change.org petition to protest for its removal and for .
Started by a student at Leeds University, who saw the marketing in the windows of the Leeds branch of Victoria’s Secret, she spoke to us about how she plans to get it removed.
‘We set up the petition because of the word ‘perfect body’, 22-year-old Frances Black tells The Debrief: ‘Generally women of this body type are used in advertising campaigns, but this one positioned the words ”perfect body” across them and we think this sends a particularly damaging message to women and society in general.’
‘It’s one thing to use models of one body type to advertise your product,’ she adds, ‘but to say that’s the “perfect body” is breeding massive insecurities in young women who look up to a big brand like Victoria’s Secret.’
Though the phrasing of the full advert could arguably be there to imply the clothes make the wearer perfect, Frances doesn’t buy that: ‘I think anyone who’s got a brain knows you’d never ever pick the words “perfect body” without knowing how that message is going to come across. It’s not even a good play on words.’
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From the petition, she hopes that enough attention can be drawn to the topic for Victoria’s Secret to remove the ad and ‘pledge not to use such marketing in the future.’, the petition states. As Frances puts it, ‘It comes down to “should companies have a social responsibility?” and I think they should.’
In the mean time, Frances has also encouraged users to get in touch with Victoria’s Secret via email and Twitter: ‘We’ve put on the emails for the US, Canadian and UK headquarters, we’re also sending tweets to them, too.’
The hashtag Frances has suggested is #iamperfect, and it’s doing pretty well on Twitter –it’s not quite trending, thanks to Ed Sheeran, Prime Minister’s Questions and the possibility of the Chuckle Brothers going on Radio 1’s Live Lounge, but women are using it to show that perfection is subjective.
Victoria's Secret might have all the bolshy gloss of an American brand, but there are stores popping up across the UK, and all eyes will be on its inaugural UK show, set to take place in London in December, with tickets coveted by many in the fashion industry (and being snapped up by those with access to £10,000. Yep, really). What's worth noting is that this image wasn't just something pinging around the internet, but in a shopping centre in Leeds: ‘Victoria’s Secret have a huge following all around the world, but I saw it in the Trinity Shopping Centre in Leeds and a lot of people are going to see that advert.’
Spokespeople for Victoria's Secret have not yet responded to the petition, although Frances said that when she and other activists turned up at the Leeds outlet of Victoria's Secret, the offending posters had been removed from the outer-facing windows and moved to displays inside the shop.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.