Victoria’s Secret PINK Targeting Teens and Tweens With Their New ‘Bright Young Things’ Underwear Line?

Recently a mom took her young 9-10 y/o girl to a Victoria's Secret PINK store to buy some unmentionables and created a firestorm among concerned parents so this latest bit from every woman's favorite underwear giant is really flipping some wigs too. They've launched their new Bright Young Things line and appears targeted to young girls whom most feel shouldn't even be thinking about feeling sexy much less wearing sexy underwear that is clearly meant to inspire someone else other than the wearer.

Apparently this ad is being marketed to college girls which is the whole demographic of PINK, but while watching I get the impression that these girls are still in high school and while I'd typically dismiss my Spock eyebrow going up, this time the company contradicts itself in two very different statements.

"Victoria’s Secret PINK is a brand for college-aged women," the company said in a statement on Monday. "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."

... now for the double-speak:

“When somebody’s 15 or 16 years old, what do they want to be?” Chief Financial Officer Stuart Burgdoerfer said at a conference in January. “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.”

Yikes! I can't imagine my little girls picking underwear that says 'Dare You' and 'Feeling Lucky', but is that a father's instinct or an ethical one? As a former high school teacher I can attest to a young girl's need to feel sexy and attractive to all of the hormonally high guys around her, and as a dad to 10 y/o and 6 y/o girls, I gotta admit I'm a tad worried about the so much more sexually charged society my kids are growing up in. I don't know that there's a dang thing I can do about it 'cept make sure that I do everything in my power to keep the lines of communication open and that's what the company feels too...

"Whether or not Victoria Secret is advertising to tweens and teens is irrelevant," wrote Ethan Jordan in response to critics on Victoria's Secret's Facebook page. "You have a problem with the line? Don't buy from it. VS is just (potentially) capitalizing on a market that society has created. Younger girls want to feel sexy. That's not VS's fault, but they'd be stupid business people if they didn't take the opportunity. Just be good role models and parents and do the best you can for your own girls. It's really that simple."

Ethan has a point, but doesn't mean it's not scary to be a parent (and a guy) and know how boys think and how much the culture has changed since I was a teen. Guess I'll have to team up with the level-headed women in my kid's lives to find out how to solve this impending problem that isn't going away no matter how much I wanna put my head in the sand!

[yahoo! Shine]