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Victoria's Secret
With 1,017 company-owned stores and 18 independently owned stores, Victoria's Secret is one of America's top retailers of lingerie. Together with its off-brand Pink (Victoria's Secret) launched in 2002, it is directed towards girls aged 15 and older.

Financial Performance
Roy Raymond decided he wanted to open a store where men could feel comfortable with buying lingerie for their significant other. In turn, he studied the market for eight years. His parents lent him $40,000 and he borrowed another $40,000 from the bank in order to bring Victoria's Secret to life. In the first year of business, a gross profit of $500,000 was achieved. This allowed Ray to expand by adding two more stores in San Francisco in 1980, and two years later a fourth. In that same year the founder sent out the 12th catalogue for the company, an element that made 55% of the annual sales. In 2014, sales increased by 4% versus the prior year, to nearly $5.2 billion while the operating income increased by 17% over the same period. Over the past two years Victoria's Secret has increased their number of stores in the United States by over 40, and therefor increasing its sales per average selling square foot by 9%.

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is a significant source of income and a great way to attract the attention of the media and press. Every year very carefully-selected models walk a breathtaking catwalk decorated extravagantly, wearing eye-catching lingerie created especially for the event. With around 50 models, 75 outfits and performances from popular artists, The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show has become the most watched fashion show in the world. In 2015 over 9.1 million viewers tuned in to the show down from 9.7 million in 2013. Each show costs around $12 million, but that amount is quickly payed off by the event itself five times over. Thirty-second ad prices during the event are at around $200,000 and part of its recuperation also comes from licensing the show to CBS for an estimated $1 million. Companies pay from $25,000 and up for merely having one of their products in the hands of an angel or a makeup artist backstage, so in turn Victoria’s Secret earns from corporate sponsorship too including Swarovski and Fujifilm. Over the month of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, share prices went up from 4.97% to $99.49.

Controversy
The target customers for the brand is a risky business, being girls as young as 15. As a lingerie brand for young girls, PINK has undergone many cases of controversy due to its racy products and campaigning. The CEO of Victoria's Secret claimed they "have so much gotten off [their] heritage" (Sharen Jester Turney). The brand has been accused several times of being ‘too sexy’ for too young. The provocative girls on the posters promoting the brand outside of the stores outraged parents of young customers causing regular complaints against the inappropriate images displayed. The aim of the brand was to make girls more confident with their bodies, but in the end it has had quite the opposite affects on the teenagers. Extremely thin models can be seen wearing the products sold by Victoria's Secret, leading the young girls to be highly influenced by them and creating unrealistic beauty standards for the customers to follow. Both PINK and Victoria's Secret has completely reshaped the image of 'being sexy', into an unhealthy thrive to reach dangerous weights and measurements. Their recent campaign known as "Perfect Body" portrays girls posing in underwear, with bodies that many consider to be unhealthy. Labelling this as the perfect body attracted plenty of negative attention to the company. See here: Perfect Body Campaign Image