Victoria’s Secret and Pink brand president Greg Unis said the brand’s going back to “sexiness” after the company’s woke push has not translated into increased sales — and instead caused them to plummet.
During a meeting last week in New York, the lingerie brand head told investors that the new direction for the company is “sexiness” and increasing its lingerie, swimwear, and activewear lines, Fox Business reported.
“Sexiness can be inclusive,” Unis said. “Sexiness can celebrate the diverse experiences of our customers and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Unis added that, the brand will increase its sleepwear and lingerie piece offerings like slip dresses, corset tops, and more, CNN noted.
Chief executive Martin Waters said that, “Despite everyone’s best endeavors, it’s [woke initiatives have] not been enough to carry the day.”
Victoria’s Secret ditches prioritizing wokeness over ‘sexiness’ after sales drop https://t.co/A2NGnEa34z pic.twitter.com/3vOm2Pwrqo
— New York Post (@nypost) October 18, 2023
Executives hope by making this move it will improve the company’s earnings, putting it closer to the $7.5 billion it earned in 2020 in annual sales, CNN noted.
The company said while the move to push LGBTQ identities was favored by critics, it didn’t equal better sales. The brand is projecting revenue of $6.2 billion this fiscal year, which is down 5% from the previous year, and 15% from 2020.
Over the last two years, Victoria’s Secret ditched its glitzy annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show — and sexualized ad campaigns with VS Angel models — that made people like Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum and Adriana Lima famous among so many others.
Instead, it said the company would push a more “inclusive” lingerie campaign, featuring liberal activist soccer star Megan Rapinoe, trans-identifying male model Valentina Sampaio, plus-size models and others.
In 2021, activist Rapinoe called out the company, claiming that before its woke push, the company had sent out a “really harmful” message that was “patriarchal, sexist, viewing not just what it meant to be sexy but what the clothes were trying to accomplish through a male lens and through what men desired.”
“And it was very much marketed toward younger women,” she added, at the time.
Other changes announced at the meeting included that, the lingerie company would be updating its stores and opening 400 new locations outside the United States and Canada.
In August, the brand announced it was bringing back some of the famed VS Angels like Candace Swanepoel and Naomi Campbell for its campaigns.