‘Transphobic’ and ‘horrible’ Caitlyn Jenner Christmas billboard removed
The company behind a “transphobic” Caitlyn Jenner billboard has apologised after receiving hundreds of complaints.
A company that placed an offensive billboard featuring Caitlyn Jenner has apologised its “poor judgement”, before donating $1000 to an LGBT charity.
The billboard features a photo of Jenner in a Santa hat, with a slogan reading: “I hope your sack is fuller than mine this Christmas. Merry Christmas from Cranium.”
The poster in Auckland has since been censored after members of transgender community expressed their anger and upset.
Phillip Garratt apologised for causing offence on Facebook, claiming the advertisement was down to “poor judgement” on Cranium’s part.
He added that “Cait is welcome to stay at my house with my family anytime.”
Garratt then attempted to soften the blow by donating $1000 to LGBT organisation Rainbow Youth.
The charity happily welcomed the donation, but warned jokes about the trans community are not only insulting, but dangerous.
A spokesperson for the group said that ‘jokes’ such as these will only further marginalise the LGBT community and cause others to not take the situation seriously.
In addition, the mother of a trans nine-year-old ridiculed Mr Garratt’s donation, saying he was simply trying to “save his reputation by paying the community off.”
However, he may have to pay out a lot more, after the company was also accused of breaching copy right law by using an unauthorised picture of the former Olympian.
Intellectual property specialist Gus Hazel said that without permission to use the image, the company may have breeched the Copyright Act.
“The Fair Trading Act might also be relevant – if the image was seen as misleading people into thinking Caitlyn Jenner authorised or endorsed it,” he told tvnz.com.
“This is nothing more than a crude Photoshop job purely for publicity.”
Sadly, this is not the first time Jenner’s transition has been used to generate publicity through transphobia.
In August, a Radio ad mocked the star in a town where a trans woman was nearly beaten to death.
Denny Schaffer, whose show airs on Star 105.5 in Toledo, Ohio, was pictured on a billboard imitating the Olympian’s Vanity Fair cover, on which she unveiled her new identity.
The caption reads: “Transition to Star 105.5 and don’t call me Caitlyn.”
