Can Empathy Sell? The Marketing ROI of Inclusivity in Victoria’s Secret’s 2025 Comeback

Once the epitome of hyper-glamour and exclusivity, Victoria’s Secret has entered 2025 wearing a new skin, one stitched together with empathy, diversity, and digital-age awareness. But make no mistake: this isn’t just a PR makeover. It’s a high-stakes brand recalibration, where inclusivity isn’t moral currency alone it’s a financial strategy.

After years of being synonymous with angel wings and unattainable perfection, the lingerie empire is now trying to prove that empathy can sell and scale.

The Reckoning: From Fantasy to Fallout

Victoria’s Secret’s fall was almost cinematic. The brand that once dominated mall culture and male gaze-driven marketing found itself cancelled before cancel culture became a buzzword. It's glossy fantasy beautiful women, same silhouettes, same stories, aged fast in an era demanding authenticity. By the late 2010s, sales had plummeted by over 30%. The brand’s tone-deaf response to body diversity, coupled with internal scandals, cemented its reputation as a relic of outdated ideals. And when early “inclusive” campaigns emerged, consumers saw through them inclusivity as a costume, not conviction.

2025, however, marks an entirely different energy. With the return of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, the brand’s message isn’t “we’re back”, it’s “we’ve changed.”

Casting Realism: The New Angels of Empathy

Forget the homogeneous runways of the past. The 2025 Fashion Show, streamed on YouTube, TikTok, and Amazon Prime, was a digital carnival of representation. Models of all body types, ethnicities, and backgrounds walked alongside creators, athletes, and influencers, women with voices, not just poses.

This was marketing’s new frontier: social-first storytelling.

Victoria’s Secret leaned into the idea that fashion power now lives online, where relatability outperforms perfection. Creators like Angel Reese, with millions of followers, became the new faces of empowerment, each post, reel, or live stream translating directly into emotional (and financial) engagement. Behind the scenes, executive creative director Adam Selman reinvented the aesthetic, mixing sequined pantsuits, denim corsets, and satin lingerie into a balance of confidence and comfort. The message? Sexy is still here it’s just democratized.

The Money Shot: When Empathy Meets EBITDA

Here’s where sentiment meets spreadsheets. In Q2 2025, Victoria’s Secret reported a 3% revenue growth, with full-year projections between $6.33–$6.41 billion small, but symbolic. The beauty division now contributes 18% of total revenue, and acquisitions like Adore Me diversify its digital portfolio. But the real metric of this comeback isn’t just revenue, it’s conversion through connection. The 2025 Fashion Show’s live-stream integration enabled real-time purchases viewers could buy a model’s look instantly while watching. That’s not just entertainment; it’s retail theatre with ROI. Still, investors remain cautious. The brand trades at a discounted P/E ratio of 12.66, a reminder that empathy doesn’t erase history overnight. Competing with body-positive disruptors like Skims or Savage x Fenty means proving authenticity, not performing it.

It’s not just a social good, it’s a measurable business advantage. Studies show inclusive campaigns generate up to 25% higher conversion rates and significantly improve brand loyalty among Gen Z and Millennials, who now make up over 60% of Victoria’s Secret’s customer base. By moving away from top-down brand storytelling to community co-creation, the company turned its audience into ambassadors. That’s the new marketing math: less aspiration, more affiliation. Inclusivity, when done right, becomes not only emotionally resonant but economically resilient a moat against cultural irrelevance.

Sensuality vs. Sincerity

Still, there’s a fine line between reinvention and erasure. Victoria’s Secret’s identity was built on sensuality, a brand DNA that can’t just be scrubbed away. Its 2025 narrative doesn’t deny that heritage, it redefines it. By blending empathy with allure, the brand found a fragile equilibrium: maintaining the “fantasy” while inviting every woman into it. It’s a reminder that inclusivity and seduction aren’t opposites, they’re evolutions.

Financially, the formula seems to be working. Strategically layered with eco-conscious materials, loyalty-driven personalization, and storytelling through authenticity, the brand’s turnaround shows what modern luxury looks like in the algorithmic age less about selling lingerie, more about selling belonging.

The Takeaway: Empathy Has an ROI

Victoria’s Secret’s 2025 comeback isn’t a redemption arc it’s a rebranding masterclass. It proves that empathy, when executed with sincerity and data-backed precision, can rebuild not just a brand’s reputation but its bottom line.

And for brands navigating cultural relevance, Victoria’s Secret offers a cautionary yet inspiring truth: Empathy doesn’t dilute desire; it redefines it.