A famed women’s swimwear brand has announced that it is partnering with a bearded man as the company’s new brand ambassador.
The Australian women’s swimwear brand, Seafolly, recently announced that “transgender” activist Deni Todorovič will feature in its new campaigns.
Seafolly announced that Todorovič, a biological male with a beard who claims to be “non-binary,” will be the brand’s first “transgender” ambassador.
Todorovič will follow in the steps of big-name supermodels like Gigi Hadid and Miranda Kerr in representing the female swimwear brand.
However, the news has been met with mixed reactions, according to the Australian outlet News.com.au.
Todorovič made the announcement in a post on Instagram, writing, “We made history!
“This marks the first time iconic Aussie swim giants Seafolly have worked with a Trans ambassador/brand partner.
“As the Chief Marketing Officer said in our initial meeting, it’s the first time of many more to come.
“I couldn’t be more honored.”
This Australian non-binary man, Deni Todorovič, is the new brand ambassador and model for Women’s Swimwear Brand Seafolly. 👙🩱
The brands previous brand ambassadors included Gigi Hadid and Miranda Kerr.
After the brand received backlash for featuring a man in their campaign… pic.twitter.com/0bHEWEsL0n
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 5, 2023
The brand also posted the news, and the label was met with a host of comments.
Many of the responses are from people who were upset about the use of a biological male as a brand ambassador instead of a female, the outlet noted.
The comments have since been turned off on the post.
Following a backlash against the brand, Seafolly released a statement against what it called “hateful language,” Sky News noted.
“We are here to celebrate the Australian beach lifestyle and inspire one another to feel confident at the beach,” Seafolly said in a statement.
“In this community, we do not tolerate abusive, offensive, hateful language, trolling, deliberate disruption of discussion, or spam,” the statement added.
“Please be respectful of each other’s differences and remember to always be kind.”
Todorovič also released a statement that argues he isn’t taking jobs from “biological women.”
“First of all, I’m not a man pretending to be a woman, not even close,” the model wrote.
“Second of all, I’m not trying to steal jobs from women, at all, there were many women involved in that campaign.”
“There were also queer people involved in that campaign, like Thomas who designed (the swimsuit), like me who is non-binary,” the model added.
“We miss out on jobs all the time, so let’s just have a bit of nuance before you f***ing troll me like this.”
The iconic Australian brand has been around since the 1970s with ambassadors such as Lara Bingle, Jesinta Franklin, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models, and Victoria’s Secret models.
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