Angels on the Catwalk

Every year I sit in awe staring at the TV wondering how in the world those stick thin women support the weight of those infamous Victoria’s Secret angel wings. This year will be no different! With the angel’s 2008 fashion show right around the corner, the minimal clothed beauties grace our television sets more and more as the days pass.



NAME OF PRODUCT:
Lingerie…and a few unmentionables :)

YEAR AD WAS MADE:
2008

AD AGENCY PRODUCING AD:
Good question……back in 2000 there were two agencies contending for media duties, Pro Media and KSL Media, but I’m not sure who won the battle!?!

Funny that I’m going into the communications/advertising industry, when I, like most others, fall into the category of people DVRing every show imaginable just to be able to skip the ads that amount to 30 minutes of a one hour show. Not with the Victoria’s Secret 2008 fashion show advertisement though. This one catches my eye…..but why? I guess Limited Brands, the company behind Victoria’s Secret realized it doesn’t take a genius to understand the appeal of beautiful women parading around in their underwear.


Though we may view the commercials on TV and think, “oh those undies are cute!” We also know that like all advertising, puffery is ALWAYS a big element. So, let’s face it, we all know sex sells and that is exactly what the ad agency had in mind when they create these eye catching ads of the Victoria’s Secret models. These women are among the tiny percent of the population with prefect sink, bodies and those beautifully mysterious accents. But us “average” women is like to think we can compare our bodies to these rare finds…talk about a shot to the ego…


Last week I DVRed (of course) my favorite show, Gossip Girl. When the show went to commercial I had my finger on that wonderful fast forward button! Then, I saw the angles and thought ooooo- what’s this? So I place my finger on the play button to see what the angel’s were up to (that right there shows that the advertisers were successful in reaching their target market) me and other females my age! Viewers that usually tune in to Gossip Girl are females anywhere from 16 to 25. How convenient for Victoria’s Secret to have a commercial featuring their upcoming fashion show for 2008… not a coincidence!


I believe that advertisers know what gets to females. This ad, while giving women a false body image, is right on! It’s exactly what we say, “ooooo- what’s this?” to. I think that no matter how much we tell ourselves that we shouldn’t compare our bodies to model body types, we still do and always will.