Victoria's Secret Says That Parents Are Protesting A Teen Line That Doesn't Exist
"Victoria's Secret has just launched a new line called 'Bright Young Things' marketed to tweens and teens," reads a Facebook page protesting the brand. "Our children are not sex objects, our children are not 'things.'"
A Change.org petition with the same premise just reached 10,000 signatures. Thousands of angry moms signed the petition and took to the brand's Facebook page to complain.
The problem, according to Victoria's Secret?
The "Bright Young Things" line never existed. Instead, it was a one-time marketing campaign for Victoria's Secret's Pink line.
“There never was product that was called ‘Bright Young Things,’ no product line was called that," an unnamed spokeswoman told Women's Wear Daily. "It [the undies] was just part of a normal Pink product line. I’m not sure why people thought that it was something else,"
The brand has been open about marketing to teens in the past, though. It hired Justin Bieber to perform at its annual fashion show, and a company executive said that catering to teens was "part of the magic" of the Pink brand.
That didn't stop parents from being furious about the "line," though.
"Thank you Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollywood, and yes you Victoria's Secret among many many others who have degraded the culture and made the idea of overt sexual behavior so commonplace that now it is among girls just barely able to babysit," one mom wrote on the brand's Facebook page.
A dad wrote about why he'd never want his daughter to shop there.
"The line will be called 'Bright Young Things' and will feature lace black cheeksters with the word 'Wild' emblazoned on them, green and white polka-dot hipsters screen printed with 'Feeling Lucky?' and a lace trim thong with the words, 'Call me' on the front,” wrote the father, Evan Dolive. "As a dad, this makes me sick."
Victoria's Secret also clarified on its Facebook page that "Bright Young Things" was only a marketing slogan.
But many parents said they didn't think the differentiation mattered.
"To quote your itty bitty panties, 'call me,'" a mother wrote on the petition. "I'll tell you why your sexualization of young girls makes me so sad."