The brand’s lack of diversity and inclusiveness has caused their annual fashion show to be cancelled.

For the first time in 20 years, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has been cancelled, and critics are not surprised. The show was once used as a marketing strategy, featuring live performances from top artists, and the reveal of their brand new lingerie. Now, it symbolizes too much uniformity in the show, and is not bringing in enough funds for the company.

The parent company of Victoria’s Secret, L Brands, has stated that they are in the process of creating new ways to market their products, and that starts with eliminating the show.

The Wall Street Journal states that the brand has “decided to re-think the traditional Victoria’s Secret fashion show”. It seems that television is not the right outlet for their brand anymore.

While the public is still unsure as to what these new marketing tactics will be, there isn’t much backlash towards the company’s decision to pull it off the air permanently. 

The cost to produce the show is a whopping $20 million dollars, and without enough viewers, the point of producing such a large scale event ceased to exist.

As per Variety, the show brought in 9.7 million viewers in 2013, 6.7 million in 2016, and 3.3 million in 2018.

Regardless, well-known models such as Kendall Jenner and Adriana Lima are still amongst some of the wealthiest models, with or without the show. As of now, none of them have commented on the show’s cancellation.

Regardless of the huge loss of money, another major reason why the show was cut was due to its lack of inclusiveness when it comes to their models. The concepts of “curvy” or “plus-sized” models were never options for Victoria’s Secret. The company itself was also took awhile to include women of different races on the show. 

The first Asian woman was not added to the show until 2009, according to Vox. The company has put in their best efforts to change this, but it seems that wasn’t enough to save the show.

Competing lingerie brands such as Savage x Fenty and Aerie are also part of the reason why Victoria’s Secret’s brand is losing so much revenue. Their models range from all shapes, sizes, and races, and their prices are considerably more affordable.

The Victoria’s Secret fashion Show is a thing of the past now, and it looks like it won’t be missed.