Victoria’s Secret is the latest company to be slammed for targeting tween girls. The “Bright Young Things” spring break campaign for the company’s popular PINK line has parents outraged because of their racy undergarments which they believe targets pre-teenagers.

The slogans on the underwear such as “Feeling lucky” and “Call me” have crossed the line according to parents who feel they are marketing to younger girls. These garments are sexually suggestive and it’s irresponsible for the company to market to girls this way.

Victoria’s Secret responded on their Facebook Page:

“In response to questions we recently received, Victoria’s Secret PINK is a brand for college-aged women. Despite recent rumors, we have no plans to introduce a collection for younger women. “Bright Young Things” was a slogan used in conjunction with the college spring break tradition.”

That would be fine if it were believed, but the company’s CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer recently said:

“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.”

So there you go – pretty much an admission that tweens and teens want to wear PINK and Victoria’s Secret’s PINK line is also targeting younger girls.

I can hear those that say – “well parents shouldn’t buy the clothing then”. But if it’s not available for sale, girls wouldn’t buy it. Let’s not forget about the peer pressure tweens and teens feel – “well my friends wear it, why can’t I?”

This is when parents step in and take the opportunity to teach their kids. Yes there will be some parents who do shop with their tween at PINK and that is questionable in itself. But for those parents who don’t feel it appropriate, don’t allow it.

Society today is so sexualized and it’s unfortunate that large companies like VS feed off that – they continue the sexualization of young girls because they think there is a market for it.

Girls shouldn’t need to feel that pressure to grow up so quickly. They don’t need to think that sex defines beauty. This type of advertising negatively affects young girls. They are led to believe that sex appeal equals beauty.

The problem is, there is a market for this type of clothing and that’s what really disturbs me. As long as there is a market, these companies will still continue to sell. I’m reading on Facebook that moms of tween girls are indeed shopping for their young girls at shops like PINK.

Jenny Erikson, a blogger on The Stir wrote that she didn’t want daughter ‘to be the girl with the ugly underwear’ at camp or slumber parties. She later told Good Morning America: ‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having cute panties and bras from the big girl store.’

Some Facebook commenters on the VS page had different views:

While I don’t agree with your new advertising choices because the girls look like they are 12, you can design and sell anything you want. I am a mother of a 10 year old girl and 1 year old boy, it is my job and the job of my husband to instill morals and values into our children. We also buy their clothes and if I feel that any brand of clothing is too mature for our daughter, guess what?? we don’t buy it. Simple as that. There are so many battles we have to face as parents, this just isn’t one of them. ~Melissa Nelson

It is easy to say “just don’t buy it for your kids” or “Parents, take responsibility”. The big picture problem is that marketing this type of thing to a younger audience sends a message on a large societal level that this is okay. It is okay to sexualize young women, that their worth is about how sexually desirable they are. This is problematic. ~ Jennifer Beaulieu

I have to agree with Jennifer on this one – saying “I won’t buy it” is fine but it doesn’t solve the larger issue here.

Rev. Evan Dolive of Houston, Texas wrote an open letter to the lingerie company. “As a father, this makes me sick,” he wrote. “I believe that this sends the wrong message to not only my daughter but to all young girls.”

What are your thoughts?