Victoria’s Secret apologises for ‘insensitive’ transgender model comment

Following the backlash on social media, the chief marketing officer of L Brands, parent company of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, has posted an apology on Twitter for comments he made about transgender models. Ed Razek, L Brands’s CMO, released a statement on Twitter clarifying a comment he made in an interview with Vogue magazine, which read:

“To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model in our show. We’ve had transgender models come to castings… And like many others, they didn’t make it.”

Razek and Monica Mitro, vice president of public relations for Victoria’s Secret, sat down in an interview with Vogue which touched on the topic on the casting team’s choices. Razek, who is part of the casting team, mentioned the company had considered putting plus-sized models and transgenders in the show but had not acted on it, since the company “did not market to the whole world.”

L Brands has recently announced it is expecting a third quarter loss per share of about US$0.17.  The reported loss per share includes a total charge of about US$0.32 per share, which consists of an approximate pretax cash charge of US$20 million related to the closure of its Henri Bendel business, and an approximate pretax non-cash impairment charge of US$80 million related to certain Victoria’s Secret store assets.

Excluding the charges mentioned, the company expects adjusted third quarter earnings per share to be approximately US$0.15, compared to its previous guidance of US$0.00 to US$0.05, principally driven by outperformance at Bath & Body Works.

The company has recently reported an 8 per cent increase in sales of US$860.5 million for the four weeks ending November 3 and a 4 per cent increase in same-store sales for the period. It has seen a 6 per cent increase for the 13 weeks ending November 3 of US$2.78 billion compared to the previous corresponding period.

L Brands, is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on November 21.