Rhetorical Essay. 4.12.08

Since the 1970s, Victoria’s Secret has amazed Americans with its fashionable couture in lingerie. Its founder, Roy Raymond, introduced a world of glamour, beauty, and youthful romance that appealed to most women at the time(LingerieUncovered.com). Today, Victoria’s Secret is the leading retailer of lingerie and beauty products(Limited Brands.com). This accomplishment, however, could not have been done without the help of celebrated supermodels and world-famous fashion shows. In the eyes of Americans, Victoria’s Secret has made glamorous lingerie available to every woman, while still maintaining itself as an icon of sexiness.

The Victoria’s Secret Commercial above uses several rhetorical appeals and strategies to sell its product. The company leans strongly on the appeal of ethos to establish itself as a high-fashioned and glamorous brand. The use of imagery, celebrities like Jimmy Hendrix and the Angels, and the red herring produce the credibility for Victoria’s Secret while cause and effect allow the audience to capture the benefits of the Victoria’s Secret bra. Also seen in the commercial is the use of pathos to inflict a sense of arousal among the audience. The sensual dancing of the models makes the ad appeal to both men and women, but through different routes, as compare and contrast are used to define the “perfect woman”. The advertisement neglects the appeal of logos but makes up for it with the many strategies that support ethos and pathos. Similarly, all of these appeals and strategies structure Victoria’s Secret’s ability to capture the attention of the audience through the use of sexual seduction.

It is with the help of a question and answer method that Victoria’s Secret is able to advertise their product and their women, establishing ethos for their company. “What is Sexy?” is the first text to appear, aside from the letters. It fills the entire screen which proves it to be the focal point of the advertisement. This is followed by the models dancing around erotically in nothing but lingerie, as Jimmy Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” plays in the background, creating a perfect strip club scene. The use of Jimmy Hendrix's star appeal to sell their product without him actually being in the commercial was a clever way of establishing ethos for the Victoria's Secret company as a hip and trendy brand. To accompany the song, Las Vegas-style lights flash around the Angels' compartments as they swing around stripper poles and sway their hips. This Las Vegas strip club visual along with the audio effects instill within the audience an answer as to what is sexy. No words are needed to answer the question because the models say it all with their bodies. However, the word “sexy” appears in several places during the erotic dance scene only to reinforce the main idea of the advertisement—Victoria’s Secret defines “sexy”. This question and answer method, along with the imagery that accompanies, immediately generate ethos for the Victoria’s Secret brand by answering their own question through visual stimuli.

Victoria’s Secret relies heavily upon its ethical appeal with the audience and most definately with the use of their models to portray this. While many of us already know that Victoria’s Secret is a very sexy brand, the company does not want the consumer to forget it for it is through ethos that they remain the number one brand in lingerie. Therefore, from the first second all the way to the end, the supermodels, also known as the Victoria’s Secret Angels, are arranged in separate compartments with large letters “S”, “E”, “X” and “Y” with neon lights flashing around them. These bright letters illustrate to the audience that the Victoria’s Secret brand is "sexy" and the product they will advertise (since the audience is not immediately introduced to the product) in this commercial will be sexy as well. This strategy immediately establishes the credibility for Victoria’s Secret as a glamorous and sexy brand that will not disappoint its customer. Usually the word "sexy" refers to the appeal of pathos, and indeed it does in this commercial, but it also helps establish credibility for Victoria's Secret. As a company that focuses largely on lingerie, Victoria's Secret wants to be known as the brand that is unlike any other--the best and sexiest brand in lingerie and they do this through imagery. They establish their credibility, as they have for many years, through the use of their supermodels. Not once in the commercial do they explain the details of their Secret Embrace Push-up bra or how it is unlike any other because, in this commercial, the Victoria's Secret brand is focusing on selling their image rather than their product. In order to sell this image, they rely heavily on the sexiest women they can find to model their product and sell the image of "sexy" for the Victoria's Secret brand. It also helps that they have letters spelling out the word "sexy" to remind the consumer why he or she should want to buy a product from Victoria's Secret. Thus, it is through strict imagery and star power that the Victoria's Secret company establishes its credibility as the number one sexiest brand of lingerie in this commercial.

Not only do the models play an important role in the establishment of ethos, but they stand as a red herring for the “sexy” theme of the commercial, distracting the audience instead of focusing on the Secret Embrace Push-Up Bra. Sure, their pole dancing establishes ethos for the company through illustration, but it also acts as a red herring. It is not until 26 seconds into the commercial that the audience is told exactly what is being sold. The first half of the ad focuses on the overly-tan Angels dancing around and ultimately distracting the audience from the main point of the ad—to sell a product. 30 seconds into the commercial the following text appears, “New! Very Sexy! Secret Embrace Push-Up”, which tells the audience that the bra worn by the Angels is “sexy” and they are not as significant as implied. However, this is not true. The models play a very important role in the advertisement of the bra by tying it to sex appeal. Without someone wearing it, a bra is just a bra. No one can tell if a bra is sexy based on its color or how much lace is on it. A bra’s sex appeal is only measured when someone else is wearing it. Thus, the models come into the picture. The Angels model the bra for the audience by wearing little-to-nothing and dancing around erotically to produce the red herring and promote the actual product.

Cause and effect are used throughout the commercial to add to the ethos of Victoria’s Secret by capturing the benefits of the bra being advertised. The Angels, once again, come into play as they are modeling the bra being worn and, help create this cause and effect strategy. If old, saggy-breasted women were modeling the bra in this same “sex” themed scenario, the number of bras sold by Victoria’s Secret would plummet. As sad and superficial as that statement may be, it is true in American society and therefore, companies must play along with it. Victoria’s Secret uses the most physically attractive, which would be young and “gifted”, females for their advertisements because they know that American women want to look just like those models. They use the Angels to instill within the audience that if one buys a Victoria’s Secret “Secret Embrace Push-Up bra”, one will feel as sexy as the supermodels in the commercial. Although it seems like a dumb strategy because hardly anyone will actually look like the models, it works for the company. So many women in the audience are pulled by this cause and effect strategy into buying new bras that they feel will make them sexier, thus establishing more ethical credibility for Victoria’s Secret as a sexy and desirable brand.

Within the commercial is the use of compare and contrast for the final appeal of pathos. Throughout the entire commercial, the Angels, symbolizing the perfect woman, move suggestively creating a sexual appeal of pathos to target the audience. However, this is done differently for each gender. The Angels dancing seductively on the word “sexy” within their compartments creates a sexual mood for men. Of course, most men when watching this commercial would be aroused by “perfect” women dancing like strippers in little-to-nothing. This is just a common fact that men fantasize about overly-tan, large-breasted, and slender women. This visual ultimately makes them more likely to buy the product for their partners because they want their partners to look as sexy and nearly-perfect as the Angels. The rhetorical strategy of compare and contrast is utilized here as the idea of a “perfect woman” is greatly emphasized in the Victoria’s Secret advertisement. Men compare the women they know to this image of a woman that does not exist as it is a universal fact that real women do not look like the Victoria’s Secret Angels. Even the models are not perfect in reality as they are digitally enhanced and drowned in make-up for every photo shoot and public appearance they have. Most women in the audience catch on to this idea that nearly every woman is not “perfect” even though men are not as quick to grasp the concept. Therefore, Victoria’s Secret captures the women’s attention through close-up visuals of the bra itself. They see how comfortable the Angels are in their “New! Secret Embrace Bra” and how sexy it makes the models feel. As the commercial progresses, they see the bra and how it creates sex appeal which increases their desire for the bra and ultimately their desire to feel sexy. Most women may still view this commercial as degrading toward the female gender, while others change their minds as the product is brought into the picture. The sex appeal created targets both men and women in separate ways, ultimately creating pathos for both audiences.

For several decades now, Victoria’s Secret has used the same rhetorical appeals of ethos and pathos to establish its credibility as a sexy brand of lingerie that cannot be found elsewhere. Even the Angels play a significant role in the commercial rather than just eye candy for the male audience. The multiple strategies used enhance the theme of sexiness within the argument and make up for the lack of a logical appeal. These strategies also tie the different routes taken by the appeal of pathos for both male and female audiences to one central idea of sexiness. As the number one brand of lingerie in America, the appeals and strategies used in each commercial are obviously effective. They are actually so effective that they convince the audience that sex sells, even though no one likes to admit it, and evoke the need to feel sexy in every woman.

Works Cited
Limited Brands. 2007. 5 April 2008 http://www.limitedbrands.com/brands/vs/index.jsp.

Lingerie Uncovered. 2003. 5 April 2008 www.lingerie-uncovered.com/labels/victorias-secret-past.htm.