Victoria's Secret Rhetorical Analysis

The Harmful Strategies Behind Victoria’s Secret Catalogs As I came home from school one day, I got the mail out of my mailbox and I quickly skimmed through it, only to see a victoria’s secret clothing catalogue that I presumed was for my sister, as she shops there. It goes without saying that this catalogue caught my eye, although I know that’s exactly what the advertising agent that works with Victoria’s Secret is hoping for, they could do it in a much more conservative way. They are an undergarments store, so it is reasonable for their brand to have women modeling their lingerie in the catalog, but there is no need for these women to be posing seductively, it is a form of mediation of the body-imaging problem in the mass media. The mass …show more content…
Victoria’s Secret is not shy about their message. Their proposal is that if consumers wear Victoria’s Secret they will obtain a body of perfection and sexiness. They appeal to customers with these types of advertisements in three ways, the most prevalent one being the logical language used. Their catalogs suggest if the customer purchases that bra or those panties they will look like the women pictured in the catalogs. The other way they appeal to logos in the consumers is their prices, they are relatively low which entails that more people will be willing to buy especially when they see women of great fame as models for Victoria’s Secret. This leads into the next rhetorical appeal in which Victoria’s Secret puts at work in this catalogue, ethos. Their advertising appeals to ethos by using these known women in their catalogue to establish a credibility to increase sales. Another form of ethos that is conveyed by the text is the statement beside certain products that say “Top Seller” or “New”. It achieves ethos because these women are known country wide as being attractive or beautiful in the eye of the public. Their beauty is publicized not only in these catalogues but national television fashion shows that always include a popular influential singer. These two appeals are influential and impact the consumer in multiple ways; however, the most prominent appeal used in this rhetorical situation is pathos. Pathos is utilized in the catalogue by emitting emotion to their consumer. Whether it be a male consumer’s arousal or woman consumer’s insecurities when the lay eyes on the clothing catalogue, whereas for the majority of consumers it may incite an urge to buy their clothing, the catalog works, it affects people. These techniques are proven to work on consumers and based on Victoria’s Secret’s success, it seems it works for their