The purpose of this study was to analyze the rebrand of Victoria's Secret through a consumer perspective. We focused on Instagram, since this platform enables communication between the company and consumer. By analyzing the opinions found in the comment section under the post announcing the rebrand, we were able to see how the new direction was perceived by consumers. Previous research has shown that consumers today have higher expectations of the companies they interact with, which we believe could be another contributing factor to Victoria's Secret’s new identity. Through a thematic analysis, we were able to find patterns in which opinions were expressed, and then we categorized the opinions into themes. We located three main themes: opinions about the rebrand, identity/image, and corporate responsibility. Our thematic analysis shows that most of the opinions found in the comment section were negative; the Instagram users grieved the old Victoria's Secret and specifically the loss of the Angels. There were also positive reactions expressing gratitude towards the new direction, and neutral comments wanting something more in line with the former identity. To add more depth to our study, we decided to perform a semiotic analysis of two campaigns before and after the rebrand. We perceived that the first one, published in 2019, focused more on portraying the “perfect” woman, while the second one, published in 2022, allowed more of the woman's personality and strength to shine through. Our conclusion is that Victoria's Secret’s rebrand has been received with mixed reactions. One thing that was made very clear to us is how knowledgeable today's media users are and how they are not afraid to speak up. In the comment section under our chosen post, it showed that the Instagram users strategically chose their expressions and found support in other users with similar opinions. With this in mind, we believe that if a company is to make a similar change today, it is crucial that they listen to and involve their customers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-113205 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Buiten, Felicia, Wirén, Lovisa |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för medier och journalistik (MJ) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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