I can’t be a hypocrite, I’ve glanced at my share of Victoria’s Secrets catalogs over the years. Way back in my foolish youth I even bought my wife a garment or two, which got the unexpected response, “what the he&$ am I supposed to do with that?”
So I’m flipping through the mail Saturday afternoon and I come across a small booklet addressed to one of my daughters from Victoria’s Secrets. Since I’ve already seen a few of those catalogs, my Dad radar was in high alert. What the heck is Victoria’s Secrets doing sending some propaganda to my daughter?
On the front cover of the booklet is a young woman who’s probably five to eight years older than the daughter to whom it was addressed, and she’s scantily clad in a bra and panties. The so-called promotion is for Victoria’s Secrets Pink, which must be some new brand for younger folks, although from a marketing standpoint, they do a horrible job of explaining what Pink is. I know it’s a color, but there’s no association made to reflect its intent.
I’m sure there are some mothers (maybe some fathers) who might say, “Easy now Dad, Victoria’s Secrets has a lot of nice stuff that’s NOT flimsy, see-through, sexy, or meant to stimulate the man for whom it’s being worn.” There might be some credence to that, but after looking through the booklet (quickly), I will have a shotgun by the front door for the next guy that knocks on my door asking for this particular daughter’s attention.
On the first page is a picture of a girl who looks to be about 13, and she’s wearing a bra and panties that certainly wouldn’t pass Sister Mary’s inspection, and the caption reads, “Magdalena Loves Being a Heart Breaker! Do You? If anyone but Magdalena’s mirror sees her in that getup, her parents should have their heads examined. and her Dad should have two shotguns.
Every other page has a young girl, supposedly a teenager, who’s modeling some outfit that either barely covers her assets or her boobies. And they’ve also been thoughtful enough to include some coupons to reduce my daughter’s cost if she decides to be caught wearing close to nothing.
Do I believe that teenagers wear stuff from Victoria’s Secret? I’m not that stupid. Should they? Probably not. Why? Because it’s completely unnecessary, it sends the wrong message, and it’s icky for me to even be looking at that. Did I mention that all the girls in the booklet look like they are about a size 1? Now I’ve never bought clothes as a gift for my wife, partly because she thinks I have bad taste, and partly because I can never get the size thing accurate. But trust me, these girls in this booklet all look like they came from the popsicle stick factory.
Our daughters are bombarded with enough crap everyday from a variety of streams, they don’t need to be receiving marketing material from a lingerie company suggesting they can only eat two leafs of romaine lettuce for every meal so that they can fit into outfits that they shouldn’t be wearing until they are married. And I’m dead and buried.
P.S. Don’t forget to tell your daughter that you love her.
