While watching TV this past week I saw a lot of commercials for the new Victoria Secret bra, the Miraculous Push-Up.  The bra is supposed to add two-cup sizes to the wearer’s bust.  Each woman in the commercial is wearing brightly colored bras and panties with little else.  At the end of the commercial a voice declares “hello bombshell”, insinuating that the bra transforms the wearer into a beautiful and irresistible object, one that she was not before the bust enlargement. 

After watching the commercial I went onto the Victoria Secret website to find an entire section focused on the new bra.  The website provides viewers with four reasons “why you have to try New Miraculous”. These reasons are, firstly the bra instantly adds two cup sizes, secondly the bra is an ego boost that’s grants the wearer attention, thirdly “the waist and hips are magically slimmed” and fourthly “Mr. Right won’t want you to leave the house without him”.  The bra completely revolves around the female body and its relation with the male gaze.  The woman wearing the bra is getting an ego boost because she is getting attention from her male counterpart; the woman is adding two-cup sizes to her bust because that is what is believed to attract male attention.  The woman’s body is being shaped and enhanced in such a way to satisfy the viewer, who is assumed to be a male. 

In addition, I was thinking about how this new bra connects to the false images of women’s bodies that are promoted in the media.  The bra creates a false silhouette of the female body however it promotes the female’s bust as real.  While it is not the same as an image of a woman that has been airbrushed, the woman’s figure is altered and enhanced in some way.  Should there be a warning label on every bra explaining that the wearer’s breasts do not really look that way?

http://www.miraculouspushup.com/#/home/