When will companies learn that going woke isn’t a great idea, as it means that they’ll go broke sooner rather than later, or at least see their stocks and fortunes plummet?
Not soon enough to not shoot themselves in the foot financially, apparently, as Victoria’s Secret just made the same woke mistake as innumerable companies before it and made a very bad business move rooted in wokeness.
What did it do? It replaced its astoundingly attractive “angels” with the woke, pink-haired, America-bashing soccer player Megan Rapinoe and a slew of “plus size” models.
That might have sounded great in a boardroom full of people sipping soy lattes and chowing down on kale chips, but most American women, when they buy lingerie, don’t want to look like “plus size” models or Megan Rapinoe.
And so Victoria’s Secret stock has tumbled dramatically and the company has had to fire a slew of executives as its financial fortunes have soured, as the New York Post reported, saying:
Shares of Victoria’s Secret tumbled on Wednesday after the lingerie giant said it’s laying off 160 management-level employees at its Ohio headquarters.
The fired workers in “management roles” represent 5% of Victoria’s Secret home office headcount and will save about $40 million, the company said.
Shares fell 4.3% to $26.80 on Wednesday.
The company also named a new chief executive, Amy Hauk, who’d led the company’s teen-focused Pink label since 2019. Hauk will be CEO of both brands now.
And why might that have happened? Well the NYP hints at the same issues mentioned above, saying:
Now it offers plus sizes and features plus-size models in its marketing as well as selling masectomy bras for the first time. It also launched its first-ever Mother’s Day campaign last year. Its stores are brighter and it’s championing more causes highlighting women’s achievements, tapping famous athletes like Megan Rapinoe and actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas to represent the brand.
In fairness, the company’s sales had been declining for years, with Americans not buying its goods for one reason or another, with the usual suspects periodically rearing their (ugly) heads to decry it and its attractive models as being “sexist” and “out of touch.”
And so it embarked on the path of wokeness, replacing the angels with pink-haired Megan Rapinoe.
Though that might have appeased the wokies for now, whether they will be stopped from attacking it in the future by the recent moves is far from certain and, in giving the stunning models the boot in return for Rapinoe, it essentially demolished its “sexy” image, the one thing it still had going for it.
Perhaps the executives don’t care and would rather go woke and broke than just stick to the best business moves and remain financially successful, but the financial repercussions can’t be avoided.
Victoria’s Secret’s whole business was based on the sex-appeal image that it and its models created, whether that image was attainable for the average American woman or not. Now that’s gone as its woke executives pushed the angels down to Earth, and its stock price has taken a tumble with them.
