Earlier today, advertising consultant Cindy Gallop tweeted an image of an invitation to the 'Wednesday Party' at Cannes for VaynerMedia in partnership with men's title Thrillist, set to take place tonight.
It said the event was for "attractive females and models only".
The invitation asked for "recent untouched photos" or Instagram/Facebook links from female guests who wanted to attend. "Once we have reviewed we will send you specific entry details," it continued.
It's 2016, @vaynermedia @thrillist. This is not how you party at @cannes_lions. #canneslions #changetheratio pic.twitter.com/jF50tdPe0p
— Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop) June 22, 2016
The post was met with an angry response on social media:
This is not ok. At. All. It is 2016. https://t.co/GFVXSv0GzH
— Eithne Harley (@EithneHarley) June 22, 2016
Utterly disgraceful. #FemTechLeaders cc @LedaGlyptis @GhelaBoskovich @andrasonea have you read about this? https://t.co/k7I4rBrh7z
— roberta profeta (@robbieprofeta) June 22, 2016
@GhelaBoskovich @robbieprofeta @LedaGlyptis @cindygallop and women must be decorative otherwise there is no value to them
— Andra Sonea (@andrasonea) June 22, 2016
@Dr_Draper @cindygallop not just pathetic. Diabolically awful in every way.
— Ian Maude (@IanMaude) June 22, 2016
In a series of tweets, Vaynerchuk initially said he did not know about the incident, and later attributed it to an external "third party production company".
@StefanBielau i have no idea where that came from - looking into now - super upset
— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) June 22, 2016
@SimonJHarris @cindygallop @VaynerMedia @Thrillist @Cannes_Lions I'm stunned and angry - finding out details now
— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) June 22, 2016
Vaynerchuk has been been commended for his swift and sincere response - including by Gallop.
@cindygallop @garyvee @VaynerMedia Yes! Response was timely, vulnerable, and handled brilliantly.
— pamelahughes (@pamelahughes) June 22, 2016
A VaynerMedia spokeswoman told PRWeek: "As Gary's Tweets illustrate, we at VaynerMedia were caught off guard and horrified to learn Wednesday morning that a production company hired to help with our Cannes event hired another company, which hired a promoter that - without our knowledge - put out the offensive email.
In a statement, a Thrillist spokesperson said: "A third party promotions company sent this email without us knowing. We apologise to anyone who was spammed with this but it didn't come from Thrillist or Vayner. The guest list for the party has been closed for some time and will not include anyone who replies to that email."
This article was updated on Thursday morning with a comment from VaynerMedia.
