Playboy reimagines its bunny ears in support of the Trevor Project

Multi-faceted 'Pride Is Good' campaign supports organization's fight against conversion therapy

Published On
Jun 04, 2019

Editor's Pick

Playboy founder and editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner had been a vocal supporter of gay rights, and throughout its history, his magazine has advocated for LGBTQ+ equality. In1955, it published the Charles Beaumont story “The Crooked Man,” which imagined a world where homosexualtiy was the norm while heterosexuality was illegal. Ahead of the Stonewall riots, in a stance against conversion therapy, it published a reader letter entitled, “Gay Is Good.” Now, riffing off the letter's theme and in time for Pride month, Playboy has debuted the “Pride Is Good” campaign with The Trevor Project.

The multi-faceted effort aims to drive awareness for the “50 Bills 50 States” initiative from The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth. The global initiative works to protect young LGBTQ citizens from from conversion therapy.

The centerpiece of the campaign is a collection of reimagined Playboy Bunny Ears from seven queer artists: Seth Bogar, Winston Elliott, Sarah Maxwell, Nina Palomba, C. Finley, Loveis Weiss and Favianna Rodriguez. The colorful headpieces, along with t-shirts featuring their designs, will be available for purchase at Playboyshop.com and during a pop-up experience at New York City’s WorldPride from June 19-23. All proceeds will go to benefit The Trevor Project. 

Playboy is also collaborating with Moschino on a Pride capsule collection, with 100% of Playboy’s net proceeds going to The Trevor Project as well. 

This summer in its Sexuality and Gender issue, on stands June 18, Playboy will also be dedicating part of its coverage to conversion therapy survivors and activists, including Dusty Ray Bottoms, Sam Brinton, Ralph Bruneau, Gabu Garcia-Vera, Peter Nunn and Veronica Kennedy. 

“Playboy’s core mission is to support the idea that everyone, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, race or religion, should be allowed to pursue pleasure, free from judgment and restriction,” said Rachel Webber, Playboy’s CMO and president of corporate strategy in a statement. “Our ‘Pride Is Good’ campaign honors the progress we’ve made and underscores our commitment to do what still remains to be done to secure dignity for all. We stand with and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, and we are honored to support The Trevor Project. Playboy will continue to push for real policy change in all 50 states, and to remove the barriers to pleasure for all.”