Victoria's Secret Fashion Show officially canceled after ratings hit by diversity and body image scandals
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show has officially been canceled this year.
The company is working hard to save its reputation after its ratings dropped. It has also received a lot of backlash over the years for its lack of diversity. The lingerie brand's parent company, L Brands, confirmed the news around four months after model Shanina Shaik had leaked the news.
As reported by Fortune, the company made the decision in order to 'evolve the messaging of [the company]'. The CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer shared while talking with analysts, "We will be communicating to customers, but nothing similar in magnitude to the fashion show". Even though Burgdoerfer had praised the show for being a "remarkable marketing achievement", he realized that the runway event did not really make a difference to short-term sales.
The company will be moving away from lavish and over the top marketing methods as sales continue to drop. Sales have reportedly dropped around 7% in the last quarter as compared to a 2% decline in the same period last year. With the exception of a small rise in the first quarter last year, the brand has had falling sales every quarter since the fourth quarter in 2016.
Earlier this year in July, model Shanina Shaik told the Daily Telegraph, "Unfortunately, the Victoria's Secret show won't be happening this year. It's something I'm not used to because every year around this time I'm training like an Angel. But I'm sure in the future something will happen which I'm pretty sure about. I'm sure they're trying to work on branding and new ways to do the show because it's the best show in the world".
The first-ever Victoria's Secret Fashion Show had been held at the Plaza Hotel in NYC in 1995. Over the last 23 years, it has featured some of the world's most talented models such as Stephanie Seymour, Naomi Campbell, Kendall Jenner, Gisele Bundchen and sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid.