The Fucade of Beauty

Secret Holiday a Very Private Affair

Secret Synopsis

In a 2016 “Victoria Secret” holiday commercial, young female models appear to be royalty in a present past European landscape; where each model lives in her own estate house of lavish content. One Supper model lives in the grand estate house, and she is throwing a very private party. This grand empress is sending out handwritten invitations to only the prettiest ladies of the land. The commercial shows all the women receiving the invites and showing up to the party. One would think this to be an innocent fairy tale scenario. The only catch is; that these princesses are all wearing lingerie, and not just any lingerie. These seductive sirens are wearing super sexy Victoria Secret lingerie. This short softcore porn goes on to show the party; in which there is frolicking, cuddling, dancing, and they even feed each other. There is a minute male presence during the commercial, and they all have all their clothes.

Fig. 1. Princess Writing invitations

Princess Porn

Fig. 2. sexual princess party

Society has slowly loosened its grip on what is sexually acceptable for public viewing. In this 2016 "Victoria Secret" commercial that fact can be seen clearly. What stands out is the plot of the commercial; where an innocent Cinderella's bawl scenario is turned into playful softcore porn as seen in figure 2. Jean Kilbourn, States "Sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women, and because it fetishes products, imbues them with an erotic charge-which dooms us to disappointment since products never can fulfill our sexual desires or meet our emotional needs". Pg.489 Though this mirage might appear to be a pleasurable erotically charged fantasy for most men, it sets the stage for an unachievable reality for most men and women. Therefore causing mental anguish for both genders. An ad like this causes men to want an unrealistic woman, and it suggests to women if they want to look good in the eyes of men they must look like the women do in this ad among many other advertisements.

Making the list

This may be a very beautiful short film, but it is sending and reinforcing a very ugly message, and that is only the pretty girls get to go to the cool parties as shown in figure 3. That's right no plane janes at this panty party. In "Killing us Softly 4" Kilbourne, talks about unachievable beauty, and body types. Well, this lingerie-bawl has a lot of tens, but no one over a size one. These underlying messages can be confusing and intimidating for young women and young girls; Therefore leading lives to continuous unmet expectations. This ad might also send a message that princesses may look innocent in fairy tales, but behind closed doors, they are sexual deviants.

Fig. 3. Only the pretty girls

Who Holds the Reigns?

Fig. 4. Lingerie on horseback

When I ask this question "who holds the reigns?", one would think I might be referring to the half-dressed harlots on horseback in figure 4, and how ridiculous the idea of women wearing lingerie riding horses really is. This is not the case. The true question is why is this commercial so appealing to men and women, and furthermore, has society as a whole been steered by the media on what our conception of beauty really is? This has been going on for hundreds of years, if you look at figure 5 the painting titled "Flora" was painted by an Italian painter named "Titian ", and was painted in 1515 during the renaissance period when full-figured women were considered more beautiful. In that time period, skinny women were considered either poor or sickly and possibly less fertile, which may or may not have been the case but in the eyes of art and fashion that is what society was manipulated into thinking. The main thread between The Victoria Secret commercial and the painting in figure 5 is that women are still used as objects to represent the idea of beauty and are not allowed to be seen as for who they are. Kilbourne proposes that turning women into objects is the first step toward committing violence against them.

Fig. 5. Full figured women during the Renaissance

Kinky Conclusion

Viewing this commercial from an artistry standpoint I find the colors and scenery very beautiful and captivating. The problem being is that it sets unrealistic ideas of what women should look like and behave like. One might also imply that the plot and theme might send a confusing and very sexual message to younger women and girls like "its ok to be a naughty little princess behind closed doors". The mildly phonographic nature of this advertisement suggests that women are nothing more than sexual objects to be exploited to sell lingerie. It's unfortunate that society's idea of beauty has become the beast.

Works Cited

Killing us Softly 4, Directed by Sut Jhally, performance by Jean Kilbourne, The Media Education
Kilbourne Jean "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence." Rereading America, edited by Cullen, Colombo, & Lisle, Bedford /St. Martin's P. 2016, pp. 488-513.
"A Very Private Affair" YouTube, uploaded by Victoria Secret, 30 October 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ2-71dQLuw
Titian. "Flora" Tmbler, Renaissance Reverie, 3 February 2015, artvis.tumblr.com/post/109989595477/titian-1488-1576-flora-c-1515-oil-canvas, 15 April 2022

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