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After Victoria's Secret was founded in 1977, the company managed to become the most famous lingerie brand by far. Of course, anytime a company becomes successful like that there are a lot of factors that go into that.Part of the reason why the company was so successful in the past was the fact that many of the top models in the world were chosen to be Victoria's Secret Angels. In fact, many of the most famous models of all time were Victoria's Secret Angels.Even though Victoria's Secret was very successful for a long time, the company's sales have hit a serious slump in recent years. In response to those dwindling sales numbers, the people in charge of Victoria's Secret have made some changes.Unfortunately, some of the changes that Victoria's Secret has made have been dramatically described as the company canceling its famous Angels. More specifically, some observers have claimed that the company's decision to hire Megan Rapinoe as a spokesperson is a harbinger of its destruction.
The Victoria's Secret And Megan Rapinoe Backlash
Over the decades that Victoria's Secret has been in business, the company has worked with several controversial models. Despite that, there have never been any serious claims that working with a specific model was going to ruin the company in the past.
In mid-2021, Victoria's Secret announced that they were hiring Megan Rapinoe, Priyanka Chopra, Eileen Gu, and Eileen Gu to be their newest spokespeople. The other people the company hired at the same time were Amanda de Cadenet, Valentina Sampaio, Adut Akech, and Paloma Elsesser.
To say there was a backlash when this group of people was announced to be Victoria's Secret's newest spokespeople is an understatement.
Long before Megan Rapinoe and Priyanka Chopra were announced to be working with Victoria's Secret, both of them had a lot of detractors. Putting aside the people who were outraged just because of a grudge against those women, others pointed out their issues with the decision.
In some cases, observers complained that instead of hiring new spokespeople, Victoria's Secret should have focused on more practical things like expanding sizes.
Yet more people who were angry about Victoria's Secret's new direction were upset simply because they don't like it when things change.
No matter what the motivation was for anyone who was upset with Victoria's Secret's new direction, the company got bad news in August of 2022. When Victoria's Secret released its second quarter numbers, things weren't looking good.
According to Victoria's Secret's own numbers, the company's second-quarter sales dropped 6% in 2022. For anyone who doesn't follow the business world, 6% may not seem like that significant of a number. However, that is a huge deal.
As Victoria's Secret's own second-quarter statement made clear, 6% of sales adds up very quickly when a company brings in billions of dollars annually. In terms of operating income, Victoria's Secret estimated they were missing out on roughly $300 million to $350 million.
Is There Hope For Victoria's Secret And Megan Rapinoe?
When the people who are in charge of Victoria's Secret learned what the company's second quarter 2022 numbers were, they couldn't have been happy. Despite that, the people who seem to want to blame everything on the company's new spokespeople seem to be making a pretty huge leap.
When looking at Victoria's Secret's new direction, it is important to keep in mind the full context of the situation.
Even though the people who were outraged when Victoria's Secret got rid of the angels may relish the idea of the new direction failing, there is a reason the company made the change. Since the mid-2010s, Victoria's Secret's sales have been consistently struggling.
As a result, when Victoria's Secret launched the "sexy for all" strategy and hired Megan Rapinoe and Priyanka Chopra, it initially seemed like it was going to be a big success. As CNN reported at the time, Victoria's Secret's share price and sales went up in 2021's second quarter.
Keeping in mind that 2021's sales went up and then 2022's sales went down, the recently announced decrease in sales may not be as catastrophic as it seems at first. Still, it is important to note that 2022's decrease in sales significantly outpaced 2021's rise.
Overall, once you realize that Victoria's Secret's sales have been on a downhill slide for years, blaming Maegan Rapinoe for the company's current position seems like a huge stretch.
On top of that, lots of other factors play into the company's current situation including problems Victoria's Secret has with stocking its stores, the locations the company has closed, and more.
At the end of the day, everyone is free to judge for themselves how Victoria's Secret's new marketing plan has affected the company's future.