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This advertisement was created by Victoria Secret to promote their new bra “The Body”. The image they created for their campaign highlights a handful of professional models that represent the highest level of western beauty standards. All of the women featured are the ideal western definition of lingerie beauty. The intended meaning of the ad was that the caption “The Perfect Body” would refer to their new bra and its perfect fit. However, this caption was poorly executed and more realistically seems to apply to the women in the photo and that their bodies are the perfect body.

It is not surprising or controversial that Victoria Secret used tall light skinned women with toned bodies to sell their lingerie. Western Society has consistently idolized these women as the “perfect” model for lingerie. The massive issue with this image is the implication that their body type is THE perfect body. The ad isolates these women into their own class as the only women with the perfect body. Anyone without this body type is instantly a lower and lesser class of body. There are hundreds of issues with defining body type through a single image. Women who are born even a single inch below six feet, with any form of physical disability or without access to the means of achieving this body type for any reason are “doomed” to a life lived in a body that is not perfect. Perpetrating western beauty standards can be expected from this company but defining them as perfect is extremely problematic and dangerous. These women’s beauty is unattainable and creates unhealthy habits for most women. Defining women’s worth through imagery perpetrates unhealthy standards.

I changed this advertisement to show what the ad truly is. It shows unhealthy beauty standards that are unhealthy in order to sell women undergarments. Victoria Secret perpetrated dangerous beauty standards to sell a product to impressionable and self-conscious western women. My changes hopefully invoke a response that highlights the absurdities with the original ad. To call a body perfect is to cast aside all other body types as imperfect. All women in this advertisement are of the same body type and beauty standard. The definition of perfect used by this piece of marketing is exclusive for no reason. Undergarments have no need to be exclusive and demeaning. All women should be allowed to be the perfect fit for undergarments. There is no reason to make women feel that they are not good enough for an undergarment.

My jamming of the advertisement shows how potentially harmful it can be to women who see this ad and are not of the same body type. Other companies used this ad as an inspiration for their own counter marketing campaigns. American Eagle photographed women of varying bodies and skin colors with the same caption as a rebuttal to the Victoria Secret campaign.

The adjustments I made highlight the issues with the campaign and show the true motives of the Victoria Secret ads.