Chromat’s Smith, however, has a somewhat different take: "It's kind of like a Christmas special. It's this whimsical fashion cartoon that everybody's watching." The show, in this sense, is more like pageantry than a reflection of the real world (though even Miss America dropped its swimsuit competition this year).
But does fantasy still resonate with today's shopper? According to YouGov, a market research and data analytics firm, 70 percent of U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 34—Victoria's Secret's prime demographic—say they like seeing "real-looking people" in ads.
"Consumers more than ever connect to the product through those people presenting them, so if the models are not engaging the customer or they feel like they can’t somehow relate, then the casting has failed," say Drew Dasent and Daniel Peddle, casting directors and cofounders of The Secret Gallery, who declined to comment on Victoria's Secret's casting choices.
"If you're looking at Victoria's Secret and the people who shop there, it's people completely across the U.S. and beyond," says Smith. "And I don't understand why you wouldn't want to have representation of all kinds."
Sehdev, the brand marketing expert, says Victoria's Secret will need to act fast and decisively if it wants to hold on to its place at the top. "It's a highly competitive market, so it's great that they have made some movement [in terms of racial diversity], but they have truly got to make some radical changes moving forward," he says. "They have to really reinvent and reimagine the brand in a way that is fresh, provocative, bold, and brazen for a new generation of consumers that think, act, and feel very differently."
Despite its recent challenges, Victoria's Secret is still a multimillion-dollar brand with the power to make supermodels' careers and broadcast its image of what sexy looks like to countless women around the world. It's a mall staple and, with its teen-geared Pink brand, the first lingerie store that many American girls shop at. With a broader range of sizes, it might be fair to say that its clientele would be nearly as diverse as the country itself.
"The brand has a specific image, has a point of view," Razek told Vogue. "It has a history. It’s hard to build a brand. It’s hard to build Vogue, Ralph Lauren, Apple, Starbucks. You have a brand position and you have a brand point of view. The girls who have earned their way into the show have worked for it…. And all of these things that [other brands] 'invented,' we have done and continue to do."
The question now is what will the lingerie giant do with the influence it still wields?
