Weathering a Social Media Storm at Playboy:
Trans Playmate Ines Rau Makes Waves
Trans representation and LGBTQ Advocacy were nothing new to Playboy.
The first Trans model featured in Playboy was Caroline Cossey, who got a full pictorial back in 1981. She was featured again, this time on the cover, in 1995. Hugh Hefner was always vocal about LBGTQ rights, believing it to be an important part of the sexual revolution he was fighting for.
When Playboy announced Ines as the first Trans Playmate in October 2017, our feeds were overwhelmed with hateful, transphobic comments from so-called “Playboy purists.” At first, we didn’t engage.
But then I had an idea. A way we could simultaneously stand with Ines Rau and prove that Playboy’s values of diversity and inclusion were not just jumping on some kind of bandwagon.
Another employee had internally circulated a collection of letters to the editor from March 1965, the issue with Jenny Jackson, the first Black Playmate. Reactions from readers were mixed, and as I was re-reading the letters, I noticed that a lot of the prejudiced language about Jenny was comparable, sometimes word-for-word, to some of the comments on social about Ines.
I picked out some quotes and comments that matched up, and I brought the idea to leadership: Remind fans that we’ve always stood on the right side of history when it comes to representation, whether our fans were ready for it or not, with some side-by-side comparisons. We normally didn’t engage with negative comments, but this felt like the right time to speak up.
Cooper Hefner, CCO, approved the idea and the graphics were produced and posted within the afternoon.
The Washington Post, Galore, Fast Company, BET, and more praised the response.
