OPINION

Photo: Victoria’s Secret

By SILVIO CANTO, JR.

It seems that woke politics and sexy lingerie just don’t mix.

As Victoria’s Secret has gone woke, so too has gone the bad fortune of its shareholders.

According to an article that appeared on Fox News Digital on Friday, Jan 6, “Victoria’s Secret brand CEO Amy Hauk announced that she will be leaving the lingerie giant after a brief stint at the company.”

“Amy Hauk will be stepping down as CEO of Victoria’s Secret and PINK in order to spend more time with her family in Florida,” the company said in a written statement.

The news report added that “the once-loved brand has had a tumultuous few years with an attempted rebranding that implemented ‘woke’ policies, like removing the iconic ‘Angels’ models, as well as the yearly fashion show.”

It also noted that in 2020, “Victoria’s Secret announced that it would permanently close around 250 stores in the United States and Canada after considerable profit loss.”

We wish Ms. Hauk a lot of fun with her family.

Maybe she should take a little time to reread some of those business books about listening to and knowing your customers.

In other words, men and women walk into these stores to buy lingerie and other intimate attire.

It could be a husband like me looking for an anniversary gift, or a wife looking to surprise her husband coming home from a business trip.

I’ve never heard of anybody walking into a Victoria’s Secret store to hear a political message. Never.

I guess that politics and sexy lingerie are never in the same sentence.

So why do these business executives with fancy degrees and politically correct intentions keep going woke and going broke?

It reminds me of a local merchant who did not carry a certain product. I asked him why, and he said because my customers don’t want that. The fellow is a Vietnamese refugee who came here in the 1970s. He has no MBA from Harvard or much in formal education, but he knew what his customers wanted and stuck to it.

Yes, sell what your customers want and you won’t go woke and broke.

SILVIO CANTO, JR. is a Cuban-born U.S. citizen who teaches English at a north Texas college. He is the author of the book “Cubanos in Wisconsin” and has a daily online radio program and blog dealing with U.S. and Latin American politics, as well as sports and historic events, and is a regular contributor to American Thinker.