Voice of London

Lingerie brand ‘Victoria’s Secret’ has cancelled its annual fashion show due to declining television ratings, constant criticism and backlash the annual event was receiving. 

With changing times, the rise of feminism and body positivity it is no shock that the brand ‘Victoria’s Secret’ are feeling the repercussions. The ‘Victoria’s Secret’ show was launched in 1995 and since has been a major event within the fashion world that was guaranteed to draw a large number of viewers each year. 

Last year this took a turn for the worse when the show received its lowest rating to date. According to a report from CNBC, TV ratings for the annual fashion show fell to an all-time low of just 3.3 million in 2018. The same figure measured in at 10 million viewers in 2011. 

This particular brand for a long duration of time have been slated by the public for being sexist, outdated and having a lack of body positivity and diversity on their runways and in their campaigns. 

A change in public opinion and pressure from the international community to spread body positivity has affected both the brand’s sales and image. According to ‘Fortune’ magazine sales have dropped seven per cent in the latest quarter compared to a two per cent fall during the same period last year. 

So, the question is does ‘Victoria’s Secret’ finally notice that they need to embrace all women? 

‘Victoria’s Secret’ shut the doors of 20 stores in 2018 due to a poor annual sales performance and with the former CEO Jan Singer resigning at the year’s end. It was also released that in 2019, 53 of the brand’s stores could be closed across the US.  

‘Victoria’s Secret’ have a history of only employing models that are all of a similar body type and this old-fashioned mindset has finally caught up with them. Their actions have caused lot of controversy amongst the public and also an uproar on social media. 

This all comes just a year after the then- chief of marketing officer Ed Razek suggested in an interview with Vogue magazine that transsexual models and plus-sized models should not be part of the event because the show is a ‘fantasy’. He later apologised for what he said and left the company in early 2019. 

Words: Emily Boorman 

Images: https://www.fashion365.ro/victorias-secret/, Fahad Wassem on Unsplash, https://www.flickr.com/photos/myalexis/8169009191, https://thereaderwiki.com/zh/%E5%87%B1%E8%8E%89%C2%B7%E8%91%9B%E7%88%BE, https://www.imagefaq.info/photo/1997037699/, https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D9%84%D9%81:20141202_Jasmine_Tookes_at_the_2014_Victoria%27s_Secret_Fashion_Show.jpg