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, in a July of 2022 post, that the lingerie giant’s shares crashed to $26.80 and that it had laid off 160 management employees from its headquarters in Ohio, about 5% of its home office headcount.
That stock crash problem has continued for the brand, as the lingerie giant’s stock is, as of the time this article was updated (January 12, 2024), just $24.23. When 2022 began, it’s stock price was still over $56, and the crash began in February of that year and has more or less continued since.
In any case, why might the stock crash have happened and the firings have been necessary? Well the NYP hints at the same issues mentioned above, saying (emphasis added), “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.”
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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.