Chief marketer Gordon Lee leaves Wonderbra owner

Gordon Lee, the marketing director at lingerie company DB Apparel, has left the company after less than a year in the job. It is not clear if he has another job to go to.

Lee will not be replaced and Debbie Rix, the company’s UK managing director, will take over respon- sibility for Playtex, Wonderbra and sports bra brand Shock Absorber.

Lee is understood to have left the company four weeks ago. The reasons for his dep-arture remain unclear.

Before joining DB Apparel in September last year, Lee spent four years as head of marketing for Ann Summers. He has also been head of communications at Virgin Cosmetics and group product manager at The Body Shop.

Lee gained a reputation for controversy. At DB Apparel he launched a pre-Christmas viral marketing campaign that parodied the Cadbury gorilla ad by replacing the gorilla with the latest Wonderbra model.

At Ann Summers, he ran a number of attention-grabbing campaigns, including an ad for the Rampant Rabbit Wave vibrator that was banned from underground stations by Transport for London.

DB Apparel was created in February 2006, after the £79m sale of Sara Lee’s European branded apparel businesses to US private investment company Sun Life Capital.