Revealing Victoria’s Secret: Rhetorical Strategies of Lingerie Advertisements (2012)

Undergraduate: Ella Ott

Faculty Advisor: Jordynn Jack
Department: English

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Men and women in America most readily associate the sale of lingerie with the brand name Victoria’s Secret, a company developed in 1977 that today is one of the forefront lingerie companies in the world. One might ask: what is the reason for the company’s widespread success? And how has Victoria’s Secret enabled itself to hold seemingly universal allure across consumer demographics, particularly in terms of gender? Through my project, I will seek to answer these questions and thus reveal the “secret” of Victoria’s Secret’s appeal. My research will function twofold: first, I will take a critical look at the history of lingerie sales and advertising strategies, paying particular attention to the way in which rhetorical appeals to gender function within them. Second, I will examine the rhetoric employed by Victoria’s Secret in its current advertising campaigns with the aim to reveal that the reason for the company’s success is its ability to appeal to both sexes equally without alienating either one in the process.