Bella Hadid’s Victoria’s Secret campaign sparks debate online as some users slam the brand for ‘perpetuating body dysmorphia’ while others say that ‘skinny people exist too’

• Bella Hadid is starring in a new Victoria’s Secret campaign, provoking a mixed response online.
• Some social media users expressed excitement, others said it went against the brand’s inclusivity drive.
• Victoria’s Secret overhauled its brand following criticism of its “tone-deaf” image.

Bella Hadid is starring in a new Victoria’s Secret campaign, the model revealed in an Instagram post on Wednesday evening, provoking a mixed response online.

While many comments on Hadid’s post expressed excitement about the campaign, some slammed the brand for “perpetuating body dysmorphia to young women.” One comment referenced heroin chic – a controversial 1990s fashion trend that was characterized by extremely thin models – and some referred to the fact that Hadid’s ribs were visible.

But some people hit back at these comments. “Skinny people exist and are allowed to be represented,” one person wrote, while others referred to her diagnosis with Lyme disease. The brand hasn’t posted anything about the campaign on its own Instagram account so far, and did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment about the remarks, made outside of regular working hours.

Victoria’s Secret has majorly overhauled its brand in recent years following criticism of its “tone-deaf” image, including a controversial 2014 ad campaign that featured the slogan “the perfect body.”

In 2021, the retailer said it would stop promoting the brand using Angels – an elite group of models, including Gisele Bündchen and Tyra Banks, that were chosen to be the face of the brand. It has since emphasized body positivity and diversity in its ad campaigns and introduced its so-called “VS Collective,” a group of women representing the brand including soccer player and LGBTQ+ advocate Megan Rapinoe and transgender model Valentina Sampaio. Bella Hadid later joined the group.

“Our focus as leaders and as a company is on ensuring we continue to be future-facing and become more and more culturally relevant in this shifting consumer environment,” CEO Martin Waters told investors at the company’s earnings call last month.

But the rebrand hasn’t paid off in terms of sales just yet. Net sales increased by 25% in 2021 compared to 2020, when many of its stores were closed during the pandemic, but fell by 6% in 2022.

“Changing a brand with a deeply embedded position is a journey of a thousand steps, and Victoria’s Secret is still at the start of its trek,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said in a recent note to clients. “That said, we believe that the new team is committed to making the changes and has already taken actions that will pay dividends down the road,” he added. 

Some shoppers have criticized the new brand positioning. “You don’t have to remove the glamour to be inclusive,” one Twitter user wrote.

Waters told investors at a March 2022 earnings call that the backlash to its brand repositioning was “principally from men and people who don’t subscribe to the values that we subscribe to.”

He noted that despite the branding changes: “We still sell provocative merchandise. We still embrace very sexy … But we can do other things as well.”