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It’s confirmed: The 2019 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has officially been canceled.
After months of speculation and comments from VS Angels like Shanina Shaik, who told The Daily Telegraph the show was canceled back in July, Stuart B. Burgdoerfer, chief financial officer and executive vice president of L Brands, finally confirmed the news during a conference call on Thursday, WWD reports.
“We think it’s important to evolve the marketing of Victoria’s Secret,” Burgdoerfer said. “We recognize and appreciate that the communication of the brand, the offerings, the emotional content of Victoria Secret is obviously an important thing.”
Given how integral the Victoria’s Secret show is to the brand, Burgdoerfer explained that the VS team is working hard to find evolve the brand and cater to the customer.
“[The show] was a very important part of the brand building of this business and was an important aspect of the brand and a remarkable marketing achievement,” he continued. “And with that said, we’re figuring out how to advance the positioning of the brand and best communicate that to customers and that’s among the things that [Victoria’s Secret chief executive officer] John [Mehas] is focused on.”
Last year, following controversial comments made by L Brands’ former chief marketing officer Ed Razek, the annual Victoria’s Secret holiday show was viewed by only 3.27 million people, its lowest rating ever. Will the show be axed for good? No telling, but Burgdoerfer says the team its main focus is on the products right now.
“This is a business that’s had challenges in lingerie now for three or four years and it’s going to take some time to stabilize it and get it back to where it should be,” Burgdoerfer said. “We believe the most important thing is the quality of the merchandise itself, the quality of our execution and selling in stores and online.”