Online backlash grows against Victoria’s Secret’s racy Bright Young Things collection for teens

A petition calling on Victoria’s Secret to drop Bright Young Things, a marketing campaign it says “targets teens and tweens with the same type of sexy and sexualized products sold in their adult line,” has gathered over 11,000 signatures at social activism website Change.org, part of a growing online backlash against the intimate apparel maker.

According to the petition, posted by “appalled” mother of four young children Diana Cherry, Bright Young Things — a collection of “Spring Break must-haves” marketed through the company’s teen brand Pink — “features, an array of panties, from a lace trim thong with ‘Call Me’ on the front, to lace back underwear with the word ‘Wild’ on the back to green-and-white polka-dot hipsters reading ‘Feeling Lucky?’”

At the petition page, signers have underscored their disgust in a barrage of angry posts.

“Sexualizing young women before they are capable of making careful choices about how they will share their bodies and with whom is an unbelievably irresponsible marketing choice,” wrote Michele Fennick-Pinkham.

“What the hell are they thinking that targeting sex to kids is a smart marketing campaign??” demanded Catherine Chao.

Anna Discenzo, a mother of 10-year-old twin girls fumed: “Over my dead body would they be sporting these panties.”

Victoria’s Secret is denying the offending items are aimed at young girls, saying in a statement, “Victoria’s Secret PINK is a brand for college-aged women. We have no plans to introduce a collection for younger women.”

Ms. Cherry dismisses the company’s disavowals in her petition: “Victoria’s Secret may claim that PINK is for college women but their Chief Financial Officer Stuart Burgdoerfer made it clear when asked about Victoria’s Secret’s PINK lingerie line that they are trying to reach a teen audience. ‘When somebody’s 15 or 16 years old, what do they want to be? They want to be older, and they want to be cool like the girl in college, and that’s part of the magic of what we do at PINK,’ said Burgdoerfer.”