The adage “get woke, go broke” doesn’t always hold true. Sadly, some companies, like Nike, have parlayed leftism into profits. But this one seems overdetermined: Victoria’s Secret drops feminist makeover after sales slump. Who exactly thought that feminist wokeness would cause women to buy a company’s undergarments?

Lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret is dropping its feminist makeover and bringing back “sexiness” as it tries to reverse falling sales.

Did the people who run the company seriously have no clue as to why their customer base liked their products? Women spend enormous amounts of money to feel, or be, sexy. They don’t spend much to appear woke.

[T]he brand’s efforts to promote inclusivity have failed to halt a decline in revenue and company executives now plan to prioritise sex appeal over female empowerment in its marketing.
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The brand’s subsequent efforts to promote inclusivity involved ditching its “angels” in favour of brand spokesmodels and recruiting its first openly transgender model, Valentina Sampaio.

A mystifying choice. How would seeing a man modeling bra and panties cause women to want to buy them?

It also recruited Megan Rapinoe, a former US Women’s football captain and LGBTQ advocate, who had previously accused Victoria’s Secret of “harmful” and “patriarchal, sexist” messaging.

The level of cluelessness on display here is awe-inspiring. Women used to like the image that Rapinoe denounced as “sexist” and which the company now properly characterizes as “sexy.” I can perhaps envision Megan Rapinoe selling some products, but women’s underwear? No.

Happily, the market has disciplined Victoria’s Secret’s management and pointed the company back in the right direction:

[T]he lingerie brand’s revenue for 2023 is projected to be $6.2 billion (£5.1 billion), which would mark a five per cent drop on 2022 – and is far below the $7.5 billion (£6.2 billion) revenue it reported in 2020.

So, as usually happens, the profit motive leads a company to do the right thing.