Victoria’s Secret criticised over latest campaign

American lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret has been criticised by parents over its ‘Bright Young Things’ ad campaign for allegedly marketing its Pink label at teenage girls. The spring-break-themed ‘Bright Young Things’ collection features skimpy

bikinis and underwear with taglines such as ‘Feeling Lucky?’ and ‘Call Me’, and has angered parents into creating a petition against the retailer for promoting “sexualised products” to teens and tweens.

The petition on Change.org started by a Diane Cherry, a mother of three young daughters and one son, is calling on Victoria’s Secret to “Pull” the ‘Bright Young Things’ campaign and withdraw the range from the stores.

Parents petition Victoria’s Secret

The open letter, which has already received more than 7,700 signatures of support, claims that the campaign attempts to entice underage girls, with Cherry stating: “I don’t want a brand like Victoria’s Secret telling my daughters what sexy should be and my son that girls have to look or dress a certain way.

“Sexualisation of girls by marketers has been found to contribute to depression, eating disorders, and early sexual activity - and this new ad campaign is a glaring example of a culture forcing girls to grow up too fast.”

The collection is suppose to be targeting college-aged women, however, the retailer’s chief financial officer Stuart Burgdoerfer, had previously suggested at a conference last month that the Pink line was targeted at a teenage market: "When somebody's 15 or 16 years old, what do they want to be? They want to be older, and they want to be cool like the girl in college, and that's part of the magic of what we do at Pink," he said.

The backlash to its latest campaign has led Victoria’s Secret to issue a statement reaffirming that the Pink label is in fact aimed at an older demographic.

"In response to questions we recently received, Victoria's Secret Pink is a brand for college-aged women," a Victoria's Secret spokesperson said. "Despite recent rumours, we have no plans to introduce a collection for younger women. Bright Young Things was a slogan used in conjunction with the college spring break tradition."

However, it has been rumoured that this campaign comes ahead a full line developed specifically for tweens, though Victoria Secret has strongly denied this.