According to the New York Times, "On October 16, 2002 Victoria's Secret announced the launch of Pink, a new lingerie line targeted to 15-to-22 year olds. The strategy driving Victoria's Secret's launch of Pink is to introduce the teenage girls to Victoria's Secret stores." Branching out from just a lingerie line, Pink now has its own store alongside Victoria's Secret in malls all around America. The stores sell a variety of products in addition to lingerie such as pajamas, perfume, accessories, and casual clothing such as yoga pants. Pink uses its association with the Victoria's Secret brand combined with a prominent logo and seemingly toned-down sex appeal to become officially cool with pre-teen, teen, and college girls.

What girl wouldn't want to be a hot, angel supermodel strutting down the runway? Victoria's Secret is the height of sexy cool for young women, and Pink trades on that coolness.

In addition to physical proximity in malls, Pink's logo and branding are also purposefully close to Victoria's Secret's. Victoria's Secret makes this brand more youthful and girly by calling the line Pink, a color long associated with girlhood. As you can see here, the marketers give things a whimsical, rather than overtly sexual, touch by using this playful color and details like polka dots and puppy dogs. The logo is clean and simple, written large across all their products, which makes for free advertising that doesn't feel like advertising- it's not a commercial if it's just a shirt your friend is wearing, right? As noted in the documentary "The Merchants of Cool," teens have become so exposed (and savvy) to advertising, they tend to reject outright ploys to sell products to them; by advertising its brand in popular teen spaces and associating with other cool things like Victoria's Secret and MTV, Pink is able to capture the attention of its market without them even realizing that they are being advertised to.

Pink works closely with a number of other companies and organizations to spread their brand, including public universities, MTV, and even the NFL. Pink will often host events on college campuses promoting their brand among college students. These events are often co-hosted by media like MTV, associating the Pink brand with hot new artists and cool parties. Another marketing partner is the NFL. Pink NFL apparel allows girls to feel like "one of the guys" (the hot one though of course), and is quite profitable for the NFL, opening up a new market for its product, young girls and women. Additionally, Pink has been active on social media like Facebook and Twitter, making itself visible in digital spaces populated by teens.

Although Pink tones down the sex appeal from its big sister Victoria's Secret, opting for flirty and fun as opposed to overtly sexual lingerie, the sex appeal is still there. PINK is blazoned across panties, printed across the butt of skin-tight yoga pants, and photographed often on t-shirts pulled up to bare the girl's midriff. As pointed out in "The Merchants of Cool" the baring of the midriff allows girls to be sexy without seeming too sexy. "Such a tease" as opposed to "a slut."

Younger girls often don't possess the money or permission to purchase merchandise at Victoria's Secret, which is why creating a new, teen-focused line was a brilliant business move on Victoria's Secret's part. They created a line that, while in many ways just as sexy as Victoria's Secret, is instead perceived as flirty, young, and fun rather than outright sexual. Definitely cool for the young girl or woman who wants to be seen as "hot" but not gain a bad reputation in the process. In addition to teen and college-aged women, Pink has become quite popular with pre-teen girls as well, particularly the middle-school crowd. Parents, for some reason, feel comfortable buying these products for their daughters even though they likely wouldn't let them purchase their clothes at Victoria's Secret.

"In 2010 sales at PINK reached $1 billion." Clearly, this is a profitable brand, but I would ask whether girls themselves benefit from Pink's success.

While Pink has certainly made a lot of money for a lot of people, I would argue would should ask ourselves if its coolness is a good thing. Do we want young women, teen, and even pre-teen girls to go around sporting underwear that say things like "call me" and "dare you"? Do we want to turn ourselves and our children into walking billboards? What messages does Pink send to the girls who wear it?