VICTORIA’S SECRETAND CORPORATE

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

NINA FALCONE

VICTORIA’S SECRET MISSION STATEMENT

“Our mission is to deliver best in class, captivating, branded customer experience that builds loyalty and enables consistent sales and profit growth.”

This statement is missing a socially responsible approach that will greatly help both the company and the world at a local, national, and global level.

Corporate Social Responsibility

According to DePaul University’s definition, corporate social responsibility “challenges us to maintain vigilant attention to the common good and to the sacred dignity of all people, especially the poor and marginalized.”

Five core principles of understanding socially responsible leadership:1. Self-understanding and personal integrity2. Taking seriously the perspective of others3. Contributing to a larger community4. Knowledge and intellectual competence 5. Striving for excellence

Why Victoria’s Secret?

Victoria’s Secret is a multi-billion dollar American company that is best known for its glamorous bras, intimates, swim suits, and top fashion models. As a leader in the retail industry, Victoria’s Secret has a great influence on society and other companies. If the fashion company incorporated socially responsible leadership into their work, they would be improving the moral of their name, the world around them, and set a great example for others. With that being said, today I will be presenting three news ideas that Victoria’s Secret would greatly benefit from.

The ModelsAdriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio: BrazilBehati Prinsloo: NamibiaCandice Swanepoel: South AfricaChanel Iman, Erin Heatherton, Lindsay Ellingson, and Marisa Miller: United StatesDoutzen Kroes: NetherlandsHeidi Klum: GermanyMiranda Kerr: AustraliaRosie Huntington: United Kingdom

When people think about Victoria’s Secret, they immediately think about the beautiful models on the runway, in the stores, and on their television. These angels have come from all over the world to be a part of this company, so why not celebrate that?

The Guardian Angel Project

The Victoria’s Secret Angels are seen in advertisements all across the United States. While most would recognize the VS models, the public is not given any information about who these girls are when they are off the runway. They are the face of Victoria’s Secret, and they also receive a great amount of criticism from the public for all having “perfect”, “unnatural” bodies. The Guardian Angel Project will be a good way to introduce the angels to the public and show how they are helping the countries that they come from.

How it works…Victoria’s Secret will be sending each model back to their home country for two weeks. Each girl’s assignment will be to find a charity that they believe could help the greatest number of people. They will set goals of how much money they would like to raise and then head back to the United States. Each angel will be then be assigned a different region of stores that they will work with directly in order to help raise those funds. They will visit each store, sign autographs, meet employees and shoppers, and well as collect donations for their charity.

How VS will benefit…

This will help shoppers connect with the models at a more personal level while proving to society that the girls do much more than walk down a runway. Victoria’s Secret will gain support, therefore their sales will rise, while charities all across the world will benefit as well.

Fun Fact: According to dictionary.com, the definition of an angel is “a person whose actions and thoughts are constantly virtuous”.

Today, Victoria’s Secret will be celebrating local angels who are fully beautiful, inside and out.

beautiFULL CampaignThe beautiFULL Campaign has been created to help find local females who have proven to be fully beautiful, both on the inside and the outside. Each region of Victoria’s Secret stores will hold a contest to find a local angel who has dedicated much of her life to help the poor and marginalized in neighborhoods around her. Each winner will be featured in a nation wide commercial that will give a description of their work, followed by them modeling their favorite bra, showing the relationship between the strength of a woman who is comfortable in her own skin and the power of the work that they are doing.

What society will see…

The beautiFULL Campaign will show that Victoria’s Secret not only cares about strong physical qualities in their angels, but also that they have a deep love and compassion for helping others. This campaign will encourage young girls to go out and make a difference, proving to society that a good heart is necessary to be a true angel. At this point, both the Victoria’s Secret supermodels and those participating in the campaign will be working to help different charities through both beautiFULL and the Guardian Angel projects.

Victoria’s Secret: Supporting the World Initiative

Many women all across the world are braless due to financial instability, destruction of countries, or lack of materials. Today, Victoria’s Secret is looking to its loyal customers to help make a difference. The Supporting the World Initiative will run in stores all across the United States, encouraging women to help others who are less fortunate than they are. Every time a customer brings in a bra to donate (new or used) they will receive ten percent off of their entire purchase. At the end of each month, the bras that were donated will be distributed all over the world to women in need.

A Win-Win SituationHow the Supporting the World Initiative helps all parties…

• Victoria’s Secret gains the recognition of helping others in poor areas while sustaining the support of loyal customers and gaining help from new customers who want to see a difference in society. The rise in customers will cover the cost of the discounts and delivering the bras.• The customer gains the satisfaction of knowing that they are helping out another woman who desperately needs their help in addition to getting a discount on their purchase.• Women at a local, national, and global level are given bras that they need to support and comfort them.

Victoria’s Secret: A Leader in Improving Society

The Guardian Angels, beautiFULL, and Supporting the World Campaigns will work together to help improve Victroria’s Secret’s work in terms of socially responsible leadership. These three efforts will improve how the company is viewed by shoppers, help neighbors in need, and influence other companies to do the same. Both society and the company will greatly benefit by participating in these efforts. Similarly to Starbucks and Enron, Victoria’s Secret will investigate into the financial aspect of these endeavors. However, unlike those other companies, Victoria’s Secret will not hurt financially with the discounts or delivery due to the income brought in by the extra customers that are expected to visit the stores and help fundraise. Our stores, models, and strong work ethics can be a great example of socially responsible leadership all around the world.