Brand of the Day: Caitlyn Jenner
Welcome to Brand of the Day, where we pick the brand making headlines and explain what you need to know about why it's in the news.
Caitlyn Jenner is our brand of the day. The athlete was presented with the the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at ESPN's Espy Awards last night (Wednesday), and used her acceptance speech to highlight the challenges faced by the transgender community.
Jenner said that her life has been "a whirlwind" since she first publicly identified as a woman in April.
“If you want to call me names… go ahead, I can take it. But for the thousands of kids out there coming to terms with who they are, they shouldn’t have to take it," she added.
World record-holder Jenner, formerly known as Bruce, represented the US at the 1976 Olympics in the decathlon and won gold. Since 2007, she has appeared with her family on reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
Jenner announced her intention to transition from male to female during a two-hour interview with Diane Sawyer in May which was watched by 16.9m viewers.
One month on she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair alongside the strapline 'Call Me Caitlyn', which was lauded across social media.
Jenner joined Twitter the same day the front page was revealed and set a new world record after she amassed over a million followers in just four hours – beating Obama, who took five hours to hit the milestone when he signed up to the site.
The president was amongst a host of celebrities who offered their support to Jenner including Ellen DeGeneres, Lady Gaga, Laverne Cox and Larry King. Artist AleXsandro Palombo recently immortalized her as a Simpsons-style character to raise awareness of transgender rights.
In speaking out, Jenner has prompted a wider discussion around the representation of the LGBT community. Drian Juarez, programme manager with the LA LGBT centre, said: "It feels like a pivotal moment in the way that media portrays trans people."
Siri, iPhone's voice-activated virtual assistant, has even mastered the language around gender identity; correcting users when they ask a question using Jenner's former first name.
Following Caitlyn's debut it was announced that the star had inked a deal with the E! network to feature in a TV documentary series about her gender transition.
The eight-part show is set to debut on July 26.