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As part of its rebranding strategy where a diverse set of women are represented, Victoria’s Secret has announced Adut Akech as a member of the VS family.
The runway model took to Instagram on Tuesday to share the exciting news, along with a new campaign video that celebrates women of all shapes, sizes, and women of all races, including pregnant women. “I’m happy to be apart of @victoriassecret family,” the 22-year-old South Sudanese and Australian model wrote in the caption. “To be working alongside this brand that is continuing to transform to being a brand that advocates for all women, telling out stories and making the real positive changes that it should’ve done awhile ago 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾”
The video also has phrases such as, “We’ve Changed. We Now Know Beauty Was always Yours To Define.”
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In a statement released by the brand on Tuesday (June 28), Victoria’s Secret reclaimed its vision as the “world’s leading advocate for women” with the tagline “Think you know us? Meet the new Victoria’s Secret.”
“It is our vision to become the world’s leading advocate for women.” the lingerie giant said in the statement. “To us, advocacy means making sure that you are seen, heard, and represented in all that we do. This isn’t just philosophical, it’s fundamental. We see our support as a collective responsibility—central to our associate culture, workforce, development, and customer experience. We infuse this philosophy into product launches, marketing campaigns, and all of our merchandising, design, and creative initiatives.”
It continued: “Most importantly, we welcome all women and their experiences. We have centered ourselves around what a customer wants and needs. We have moved from promoting an exclusionary view of what is sexy, to celebrating women throughout every phase of their lives. #VSNow.”
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This however comes exactly one year after the brand announced it was reimagining for a better brand that fully supports women. According to Martha Pease, Victoria’s Secret’s chief marketing officer, VS’s new image is based on the feedback received from women.
“Based on what women told us — talking to women over the last year and a half even more to understand where we had gotten off track as a brand and how we need to show up for women going forward — is that they want us to change,” Pease told WWD. “The answers we got back had to do with representing a diverse way of thinking and relating to women, and showing more types of women, so that all types of women could see themselves in the brand. I think the challenge for us is actually delivering on it. By making this very public statement that we are committed to the transformation and we’re committed to showing up for women means we have to do it.”
VS has long been criticized for its ‘hyper-sexualized’ annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and Adut Akech is joining the brand with other seven women including Priyanka Chopra, Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Lily Aldridge, Naomi Osaka, and Alessandra Ambrosio among others to give the brand a makeover.
