The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was a ratings disaster
Supermodels in lingerie aren’t luring eyeballs the way they used to.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show — dogged by criticism over its use of leggy supermodels in skimpy outfits and angel wings — drew just 3.3 million viewers when it aired Sunday night on ABC.
That’s 1.7 million fewer than last year, and half what the skin-happy TV broadcast drew two years ago, according to ratings tracker ShowBuzzDaily.
It’s also a far cry from the splashy show’s heyday more than a decade ago. At its height in 2001, more than 12 million tuned in to watch skinny models strut in bejeweled bras, lace panties and garter belts in a glitzy one-hour TV show.
“I’m not surprised about a new low in the ratings,” Randal Konik, a Jefferies analyst who covers retail and fashion companies, told The Post. “The marketing messaging continues to turn people off and the show is a liability now.”
Critics on Sunday included the singer Halsey, who had been the hired entertainment for the show when it was taped last month. Shortly after the taping, Victoria’s Secret marketing chief Ed Razek created an uproar when he dismissed the idea of including plus-size models or “transsexuals” in the runway show.
“The show is a fantasy,” Razek said in a Vogue interview.
Within 24 hours, Razek was backpedaling and apologizing to the transgender crowd. He failed, however, to apologize about the plus-size remarks.
Late Sunday on her Instagram account, Halsey blasted Razek’s comments, saying that “I have no tolerance for a lack of inclusivity, especially not one motivated by stereotype.”
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