維密首次啓用變性模特，高管啪啪打臉
Can Victoria’s Secret climb out of the hole it has dug itself into? As we’ve reported, the brand’s hyper-sexualized marketing is not resonating with younger customers: Its sales and market share took a nosedive around the time the #MeToo movement emerged.
維密能從它自己挖的坑裏爬出來嗎？正如我們曾報道的那樣，該品牌高度性感的營銷活動沒有引起年輕消費者們的共鳴：在#Me Too（我也是）活動期間，其銷售及市場份額一落千丈。
But now it appears to be trying to be seen as more inclusive. Victoria’s Secret has just hired its first transgender model, Valentina Sampaio, who hails from Brazil. On Instagram, she gave her followers a glimpse into a behind-the-scenes shoot for the brand’s teen-focused Pink line.
不過維密如今似乎正努力使自己看起來更具包容性。維密剛從巴西僱用了該品牌的首位變性模特瓦倫蒂娜·桑帕約。瓦倫蒂娜在Ins上向粉絲們展示了該品牌面向青少年推出的粉色系列產品的幕後拍攝場景。
This comes just months after Victoria’s Secret’s CMO, Ed Razek, said in an interview with Vogue that he did not believe it would be appropriate to hire transgender models in its shows.
就在幾個月前，維密的首席營銷官艾德·拉澤克在接受《時尚》雜誌的採訪時表示，他認爲在其模特秀上僱用變性模特是不恰當的。
“Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show?”
“你們的模特秀上不應該有變性人嗎？”
“No,” he said. “No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy.”
“是的，”他說道。“我認爲我們不應該僱用變性模特。爲什麼不應該呢？因爲這樣的模特秀只是一種幻想。”
These comments drew immediate criticism, including from supermodel Karlie Kloss, who announced that she would no longer be working with Victoria’s Secret. (Victoria’s Secret did not immediately respond to our request for comment.)
他的評論很快就遭到了批評，超模卡莉·克勞斯表示，她不再與維密合作了。（維密沒有立即回覆我們的置評請求。）
In the wake of these offensive comments, the hiring of Sampaio doesn’t seem like an act of inclusivity from an enlightened brand. It seems like an effort to catch up with more progressive competitors, which are winning over younger consumers by being more inclusive. Meanwhile, those competitors are continuing to grow. Lively, a three-year-old, direct-to-consumer brand founded by Michelle Cordeiro Grant, a former Victoria’s Secret merchant director, was just acquired by Wacoal for $85 million.
在發表了這樣無禮的評論之後，僱用桑帕約似乎並不像一個開明的品牌彰顯包容性的行爲。這似乎是爲了應對更多穩步發展的競爭者的一種嘗試，而其競爭者因更具包容性而贏得了年輕消費者的青睞。與此同時，這些競爭者還在不斷成長。三年前維密前商務主管米歇爾·科代羅·格蘭特創立了一家直接面向消費者的內衣品牌Lively（充滿活力）。該品牌剛被華歌爾（日本著名內衣品牌）以8500萬美元的價格收購。
With Lively, Grant wanted to create a brand focused on comfort, inclusivity, and community—which could not be more different from Victoria’s Secret’s approach. It’s unclear whether Victoria’s Secret can rebrand itself quickly enough to keep up with the rest of the industry.
格蘭特想通過Lively推出一個注重舒適性、包容性和社會性的品牌，而這與維密的策略截然不同。目前還不清楚維密是否能足夠迅速地重塑品牌以跟上業內其他品牌的發展。
（翻譯：Dlacus）
