Crisis Communication Paper Brittany Holden

Crisis Communication Paper

Brittany Holden 2/19/19

Introduction: What is the crisis? How and when did it occur? What impact has it had and how is it a crisis? Victoria’s Secret is one of the biggest, most reputable brands in the world and is known for gorgeous models, luxurious lingerie and the infamous Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. In November 2018 the fashion show was aired but shortly after, a controversial Vogue interview with Victoria’s Secret Chief Marketing Officer, Ed Razek and Executive Vice President of Public Relations, Monica Mitro went viral causing an uproar on social media. The interview touched on how different the fashion shows are now compared to 20 plus years ago when they first began and how the brand feels about the criticism it receives about its choice in diversity and inclusivity of the models. The comments made by the executives weren’t very light hearted because they know how people feel and don’t feel the need to change anything about the brand and the way that it operates. This became a crisis when comments were made about transsexuals, plus size models and diversity. The Victoria’s Secret mold was described as female beauty that is predominantly white, cisgender, young and thin. A comment made by Ed Razek read that diversifying Victoria’s Secret casting would “not be the politically correct thing to do” and that “this is best business practice”. Indicating that he didn’t see the need for any change within the brand. As this went viral many social media and celebrity influencers ripped the brand apart saying that it was time for people to abandon the brand because they’re the problem of society. Halsey, a singer who headlined the fashion show, was clearly distraught at these comments considering she had just been taped performing at the show just days before these comments were made and took to social media to say that she has “no tolerance for a lack of inclusivity, especially not one motivated by stereotype.” Overall Goal: The severity of this crisis is pretty much off the charts considering that society is always changing and that diversity and inclusion are among some of the biggest issues that are being faced at this point in time. Many people are not afraid to speak out on these issues as opposed to 10 or so years ago when social media wasn’t as relevant and when society wasn’t as open to diversity and inclusiveness as it is now. Even though these problems are more prominent now than they were doesn’t mean they didn’t exist a decade ago, it just means that people and brands are learning to adapt to the change rather than to turn their nose up at it, like Victoria’s Secret seemed to do. Victoria’s Secret has always been a controversial brand because of the women and products that it showcases, but has maintained a good presence within the public until now. They made very hurtful comments that seemed to come with no remorse when approached with backlash. The brand is always receiving some type of backlash because of the nature of the brand and has dealt with it well but this time was different. They could have easily prevented the severity of backlash if they had been more sympathetic with their comments. The fact that they were so confident in their answers gave the impression that they just didn’t care about diversity and inclusiveness and even though they could change it and cast more diverse models and be more inclusive, they weren’t going to because that’s not the image of the brand. That type of

response shows consumers that the executives are more business minded rather than mindful of what their consumers want because they believe they can be that way and still be a successful business. Key Talking Points: I think that the brand didn’t intend to do harm by not putting more diverse models in the show and didn’t see an issue with the cast of models because that’s what had always worked and the models were prominent influencers among the fashion world, but the fact that they had considered butting in transgender and plus sized models showed how much they weren’t dedicated to the cause. The things that would have to be translated to the media and the consumers is that Victoria’s Secret did not intend to harm the public, but believed that they were doing right by the brand by not making these changes to the cast. They believed that that wouldn’t align with the brand of “fantasy”, but that view ultimately didn’t resonate with the majority of people. I think that corrective action should be taken and that the brand should appeal to what people want. This show ultimately had the lowest views and it’s because of the comments made. With less views will come less support and less business, leading to change needing to be made within the company regarding the diversity and inclusiveness aspects. Once the company apologizes and comes up with ways to achieve more diversity and inclusiveness, people will begin to trust the brand more and realize that the comments didn’t necessarily come from a place of hate, but rather from a business standpoint. Plan: There are many other brands that have come out with campaigns that include more diversity and inclusiveness so when Victoria’s Secret doesn’t do that, it’s seen as if they don’t care about those issues. I think that Victoria’s Secret should implement some type of campaign that promotes diversity. That doesn’t mean they have to cast a whole new line of models, but they should be more inclusive when doing so in order to appeal to the public and consumers. Even though a plus sized or transgender model may not be “on-brand” for Victoria’s Secret, there are plenty of other brands that could’ve said the same thing, but they took the action to stray away from that stereotype and avoid the PR mess that Victoria’s Secret endured. They need to keep a clean and light hearted presence on social media when announcing new products, models and fashion shows in order to keep people engaged in their efforts to achieve the level of diversity and inclusiveness that they feel is fit for the brand. Change is a good thing and that’s what Victoria’s Secret needs to show in their campaigns, ads, product launches, etc. The brand does have competition with other lingerie brands and if they don’t show the same type of effort that the other brands do, they will ultimately lose their customers. Conclusion: I think that Victoria’s Secret will survive this crisis and come back to normal, but it will take a lot of effort because of the severity of the issue. People don’t like to see the types of issues that Victoria’s Secret neglected, being neglected. I feel as if they will come back to their normal reputation if they tale the efforts to be more inclusive and diverse, they just need to be smart about it when they do it. If they take it one step at a time and make little changes rather than a

huge one at one time, then that will show people that change is happening slowly but surely. People do need to remember that Victoria’s Secret ultimately is a fantasy and that no one should feel left out because they can’t fulfill that image and that’s what Victoria’s Secret needs to address in order to gain back the support of the public. These are the changes that need to be seen in the next Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and all the ones after, rather than just wardrobe changes.