Victoria’s Secret to Drop TV Fashion Show

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Victoria’s Secret is dropping its nationally televised fashion show this year, at least partly because of criticism following Janet Jackson’s breast-baring faux pas at the Super Bowl.

Ed Razek, chief creative officer for the Columbus-based chain, said Saturday the main reason for the decision was so the company can look at new ways to promote the brand. Still, he said, “We had to make the decision probably six to eight weeks ago when the heat was on the television networks.”

The announcement came less than three months after the Jackson uproar and a week after federal regulators proposed $495,000 in fines against Clear Channel Communications for sexual material on the Howard Stern show.

The televised fashion show has generated criticism in the past from groups complaining about supermodels strutting in skimpy underwear.

A message left Saturday at the New York office of CBS, which has televised the show the past two years, was not returned.

The fashion show, which aired in November the last two years, was televised on ABC in 2001. It generated record use on the Internet before that.

Victoria’s Secret has $4 billion in annual sales.