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| The anti-gay Traditional Values Coalition complained that the Victoria’s Secret ‘Backstage Sexy’ campaign includes pornographic and lesbian themes. |
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HOME > VIEWPOINT > ACTION! ALERT
By: DYANA BAGBY
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IT’S NO SECRET that Victoria’s Secret sells sexy lingerie. But for one anti-gay group, a recent Victoria’s Secret window display at a Virginia mall was too much.
The display, which promoted the company’s “Backstage Sexy” campaign that includes some 1,000 Victoria’s Secret retail outlets, crossed the line into promoting sadomasochistic sex and lesbianism, according to the Traditional Values Coalition.
The group’s executive director, Andrea Lafferty, organized a protest last month against the then yet-to-be-opened Victoria’s Secret at Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va. Lafferty wants the retail outlet to guarantee it “will not display pornographic S&M or lesbian themes in their stores in the future,” according to a news release posted on the group’s Web site.
Some 30 women carrying signs with phrases including “No Bucks for Victoria’s Smut” protested in front of the store last month, the start of a Traditional Values Coalition-backed boycott.
Lafferty was unavailable for comment this week, according to an office administrator.
Critics of the coalition said the Victoria’s Secret flap is humorous, but does have the potential to damage the fight for gay civil rights.
“If I spent as much time thinking about lesbian sex as they do, I wouldn’t have time to do my real job,” said Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “This would be laughable and be nothing but entertainment, but these folks have the resources to do real damage to GLBT people.”
THE DISPLAY IN THE crosshairs of the Traditional Values Coalition included two scantily clad lifelike female mannequins spooning in bed together and another scene in which a mannequin was crawling toward another mannequin wearing little more than garters, panties and a bra. Lafferty snapped photos and posted them on the group’s Web site.
Victoria’s Secret agreed to change the display after discussions with Tysons Corner Center management. Victoria’s Secret is owned by Columbus, Ohio-based Limited Brands, Inc.
“Victoria’s Secret has responded with significant revisions in the placement and positioning of its mannequins, both window and in-store displays,” property manager Kathy Hannon told the Washington Post.
Hannon did not return calls for comment from this newspaper this week.
Limited Brands said its “Backstage Sexy” marketing campaign promotes only the products it sells.
“All we were promoting was our product, lingerie, in a fashionable, sexy way,” said Anthony Hebron, a company spokesperson.
Hebron said the display targeted by Traditional Values Coalition was part of a “soft opening” at the Tysons Corner store in which employees were exploring different marketing ideas with the window display. The display was changed for the store’s Oct. 7 opening, he said.
“We have gotten very few complaints [nationwide],” Hebron said. “We value and welcome input. We don’t try to be offensive in any way.”
The revised display eliminated the two female figures lying together and replaced it with a single mannequin sitting with legs crossed, according to the Associated Press. The mannequin on hands and knees, crawling toward another female figure, was also removed, according to the AP.
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH came under a similar attack in 2003 when the Traditional Values Coalition and other conservative groups orchestrated a nationwide boycott against the clothing company for a catalogue featuring photos taken by noted photographer Bruce Weber.
“Many of A&F’s soft porn photos were taken by Bruce Weber, a homosexual activist who has been credited with mainstreaming homoerotic photography in advertising,” the Traditional Values Coalition said at the time.
A&F stopped publishing the catalogue after the complaints gained widespread media attention.
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