Good for business, bad for teenage boys:
Maybe it was the lusty mannequins in its stores, the massage oil on its shelves or the overabundance of cleavage on the glittery runway of its annual TV fashion show. But yesterday, Victoria’s Secret chief executive Sharen J. Turney acknowledged that the chain had gotten “too sexy.”
Is such a thing even possible?
“We have moved off of our brand heritage,” she said in a conference call with analysts. “We use the word ’sexy’ a lot and really have forgotten the ultra-feminine.”
(…)
Turney pointed to the company’s Super Bowl ad this year as an example of its new direction. The spot featured model Adriana Lima in a black lace tank top and undies seductively tossing a football as she lounged in a chair.
“Let the real games begin,” the ad said. It was the most popular spot on the broadcast and was seen by 103.7 million people, according to the Nielsen Co. Its fashion show last year on CBS featuring models wearing angel wings and little else drew 7.5 million people, down from its 2001 debut on ABC with 12.4 million viewers.
So this, apparently, is the new image they’ll be projecting:
Not too bad
