We went to Victoria's Secret to see the risque photos in stores that moms of teenage girls are freaking out about - here's what we found
- Victoria's Secret has three core businesses: lingerie, beauty, and its PINK label.
- There's a big discrepancy between these collections and the customers they are targeting. This can be off-putting to some shoppers.
- Lingerie and beauty reported negative sales growth in the last quarter, while PINK was a relative bright spot for the brand.
There's a big disconnect between Victoria's Secret's businesses, and it's putting some customers off from shopping at the store.
The company has two main lingerie brands: Victoria's Secret lingerie and PINK. The first claims to offer "the sexiest panties and lingerie," and the latter, apparel and underwear for teenage girls.
This week, a mother complained on Facebook that some of Victoria's Secret's lingerie images shown in a store she visited in South Carolina were inappropriate for its younger shoppers at PINK.
"The images in your store at Columbiana Centre Mall in South Carolina are very distasteful and obscene. It is basically pornography that everyone (children and teens) are subjected to viewing because there is only one area to check out between PINK and Victoria's Secret, which happens to have the most obscene photos behind the registers," she wrote on Victoria's Secret's Facebook page.
This is especially concerning for the company as its PINK label has become one of its only areas of growth. In the company's most recent earnings results, while sales in its beauty and lingerie sections were down, total sales at PINK grew in the mid-single digit range, the company said.
Victoria's Secret has been criticized for putting off customers with its sexualized ads in the past. In 2016, one of its Facebook photos got heat for being so overtly sexual that it was borderline pornographic. Customers on Facebook were furious and called it "trashy," Business Insider reported.
The customer who complained on Facebook has called for bigger divides in the stores.
"I've not been happy with the displays for a while but when the models are spread leg, pulling down panties and even bare bottom women on the walls.... it is VERY embarrassing for a family. If PINK items are targeted to teens, there needs to be a separate checkout area or these types of photos should be removed! There were lots of families in line behind me who felt the same and I hope they will voice their opinions as well!" the shopper wrote.
We visited one of its stores in New York's Manhattan to see how the images were being used in store. Victoria's Secret did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.