Amidst social networking being packed with media from the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which aired December 9th, Victoria’s Secret has been in the limelight quite a bit recently. Victoria’s Secret is a global corporation that sells women’s apparel, cosmetics, and accessories.  Many supermodels such as Karlie Kloss, Cara Delevinge, and Tyra Banks have been Victoria’s Secret “Angels”. In some instances, people’s view of Victoria’s Secret is “unattainable standard” for women around the world. Considering the hype around the fashion show and extremely fit models, there are a lot of body image messages being publicized. Now, in addition, they published a new campaign called “The Perfect Body” which has raised many eyebrows at VS.
“The Perfect Body” campaign was part of their new collection of more comfortable garments called “Body”. It is marketed with a multitude of models in skimpy clothing, all with fit and toned bodies. Above these models reads, “The Perfect Body.” Quickly after this ad appeared, over thirty thousand people signed a petition, on change.org to remove this ad. The petition called for VS to “apologize for, and amend the irresponsible marketing”; people want an apology from VS for this body-shaming ad. Many women find that this ad sends the wrong message. Not only that their bodies must be the same as these super-models but, do to the fact they don’t have the same figure as a model, they are not considered “perfect”.  A journalist from the Daily Mail UK says, "As for their use of the word ‘perfect’, it’s not only offensive to the 99.9% of the female population who don’t share the models’ ‘perfect’ proportions, it’s also deeply irresponsible, if not downright cruel." As of now, Victoria’s Secret has yet to remove this ad or make a comment about it.

There have been countless tweets, posts, and comments on social media targeting Victoria’s Secret for this campaign comparing them to other companies such as Dove, that promote loving your body.  Dove has released commercials such as Real Beauty Sketches and advertisements on TV, in magazines, on YouTube, all of which are promoting girls and women to love their bodies. Body image is a giant issue that women face everyday. Kasey Serard from Westminster University writes in her study of female body image, “The importance of physical appearance is emphasized and reinforced early in most girls' development; studies have found that nearly half of females ages 6-8 have stated that they want to be slimmer. Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating patterns have been found to be an especially prevalent issue in adolescent and college females.” There is so much pressure to have a “perfect” body as a female; even 6 year olds say they want to be skinnier. The strain of perfection is leading girls and women into depression, eating disorders, and an obsession with finding anyway- usually an unhealthy way- to lose weight.

In light of the immense conflicts surrounding this topic, Victoria’s Secret seems to have gone too far with this advertisement. The message Victoria’s Secret sends in this ad is not to be taken lightly. Women are burdened by the gigantic image standards that encompass being a woman in today’s society.  It’s time for women to start loving themselves, not starving themselves.