Victoria's Secret 'Perfect Body' Ads Changed After Backlash

What the folks at the Victoria's Secret headquarters were thinking when they changed their "Perfect Body" ads Thursday might remain Victoria's secret. Without public comment, many ads for the mega-retailer's "Body" range of bras that featured the tagline "The Perfect Body" in front of lingerie-clad models were switched out for the more female-friendly "A Body For Everybody" after a Change.org petition protesting the wording drew 27,000 signatures from around the world and a Twitter campaign #iamperfect protesting the ads gained momentum, reports Time.

Created by British students Frances Black, Gabriella Kountourides and Laura Ferris last week, the Change.org petition asked for Victoria's Secret to apologize and to "take responsibility for the unhealthy and damaging message that their wording ‘The Perfect Body’ sends out to society about women’s bodies and how they should be judged" by changing the wording of the ads. They asked for wording that "does not promote unhealthy and unrealistic standards of beauty" and for the lingerie company to pledge not to use "harmful marketing" in the future.

Although the students wrote on their Change.org update that they were happy with the change, they stressed that the campaign wasn't over. They wrote,"We still want them to change all of the posters in their stores, apologise and pledge to not use such harmful marketing in the future."

Victoria’s Secret, a subsidiary of the retail giant L Brands Inc., has more than 1,000 locations across the United States. On Thursday, L Brands reported quarterly net income of $700 million, up 3 percent from $680.5 million for the same period last year.