Out of all of the strange, funny, or even controversial advertisements and pictures plastered all over the internet, Victoria’s Secret has had their fair share of controversy surrounding their advertisements. In this Ad, Victoria’s Secret is trying to promote the different types of bras they offer and how they supposedly have one for every body shape and type. They show ten models; all with “different” body types standing and modeling the different types of bras that they offer.
The text incorporated into this ad reads: “A Body for Every Body. Perfect Fit. Perfect Comfort. Perfectly soft. Find Your Favorite. When analyzing this image, the viewer can come to the conclusion that the advertisement and company is close-minded about beauty standards and bodies by claiming that they offer a bra for “every body” and every type, while using contradictory visual techniques to state otherwise. One element of this image that pops out almost immediately is the saying plastered in the middle of the page: “A Body for Every Body. ” This is one of the many things wrong with this advertisement. When a reader reads the saying and then looks at the models who are wearing the bras, the advertisement starts to become very contradictory to its slogan.
Looking at these models the viewer is able to see that all of the bodies of the models are the very similar to each other. This is problematic for an advertisement claiming to have a bra to fit every type of body. By doing this, women of all different sizes, shapes, and builds are able to enjoy the product that the company is trying to sell. At first glance, the viewer of this advertisement is able to clearly tell that these bras are catered to thin women by just looking at the models being used.
This ould scare away many women who are not built like the models pictured because they are afraid of being let down or disappointed when they do not look like the models wearing the bras. Not only does this advertisement contradict its saying but it also makes a bold claim that tall and skinny is the only type of beautiful out there. In a world full of constant scrutiny, judgement, and hate; an advertisement like this one really shows the problems our society has with body image and body positivity in women.
Society has made it seem like tall and thin is the only option women have to look good. In the younger generations of girls and boys trying to find and accept themselves for who they are, ads like this are very problematic to them. It gives them the impression that the body they have whether it be tall, short, thin, or curvy will never be good enough or look like the models in magazines like Victoria’s Secret. Times are changing and society is slowly starting to see that skinny is not the only body type readers can have but clearly, Victoria’s Secret is not aware of these changes happening.
The placement of the saying is also very important to this advertisement as well. They strategically placed it in a large font over the abdomen of the women. By doing this, the company is able to make the viewers focus on the underwear and the bras that the women are wearing. They also are able to pull the viewers’ attention to the stomach and legs of the models to show how slender and toned they are. They are able to better advertise the product that they are selling in hopes that women of “every body type” will buy their underwear and bras.
The style and shape of the text can also be observed as well. The font chosen can also reflect Victoria’s Secrets hidden claim. The font chosen is very similar to the way their models look; very vertical, slender, and no curves are present in the font. Along with the placement of the phrase, viewers are also able to observe the many different types of lines that are being shown in the models bodies. Starting from the top of the image there is a clear horizontal line that could be drawn across the top of their heads.
When observing this, the viewer is able to notice that the models are almost identical in height. Moving down their bodies, viewers are able to see the lines in all of their legs. All of the models are strategically posed. They each have one straight leg, and one bent leg. You can also see some of the girls are bending their torsos and cocking their hips. By doing this, they are attempting to make their bodies seem curvier than they really are in an attempt to appeal to women who have more curves or are built differently. This does not work and the models just look awkward and uncomfortable.
All of these lines show the viewer a sense of stability and structure in the image and further pushes them to believe that the models pictured are how everyone should look or want to look. Color also plays in important role in this ad as well. When analyzing the color of this image, the viewer is able to notice a lack of color in the background of the image. The background is basically just a white screen with the only color being the models skin tones and the bras and underwear. This is done to show that the only important thing about the image is the models slender bodies and the lingerie on them.
This helps the seller of the product get the audience to focus on the product they are trying to sell and nothing else such as the background. While looking at the many visual concepts and techniques used in this advertisement, viewers of this ad can also tell a lot by the models they chose to use. When examining the models, viewers are able to notice a lot of similarities in these women. They are all the same height which makes it seem like Victoria’s Secret only caters to tall women, not women who are shorter or even taller.
You can also see the similarities in their hair as well. They all seem to have the same length of hair which is all styled the same. These models also all have lighter skin. There is one maybe two lighter skinned African Americans pictured, but Victoria’s Secret failed to put a darker skinned African American in this Ad. They also posed the models the exact same way and their facial expressions are all almost identical. This shows that all personality and most importantly, uniqueness was removed from the women in this advertisement.
This further contradicts Victoria’s Secrets claim that they offer a product for all types of women and furthers the thought that this type of person is their definition of “Perfect. ” Upon researching Victoria’s Secret and their ads, I found that this advertisement had two versions. The first version featured the same models and bras, but a different slogan reading: “The Perfect “Body. ” When Victoria’s Secret released the ad the first time, many people were outraged at the fact that they made the claim that their models had the perfect bodies.
Eventually Victoria’s Secret decided to change the saying on the ad in hopes that the scrutiny it was receiving would calm down. Clearly they did not do a good job on choosing a more fitting slogan. This further supports the idea that Victoria’s Secret believes that tall, skinny, and light skinned is the only type of perfect acceptable body type to them. To tie all of these different visual concepts and ideas together, we are met with one word to sum up the whole advertisement: perfect. Under their contradictory statement “A Body for Every Body” there is text that says perfect fit, perfect comfort, perfectly soft.
Perfect” is a very powerful word that can be used and they used it to further make the claim that tall, skinny, and light skinned is their definition of perfect. Clearly this is the opposite of what they should be doing in their advertisement. Instead of plastering the same body all over their image, advertisements should be celebrating the many types of bodies, personalities, and looks that women in this day and age have by including them in their ads. The overall goal of appealing to every body type in their advertisement failed horribly and ultimately did the exact opposite of what they were trying to do.
