(Online Dating Industry Journal) Many of you have seen some of the extreme ads run by online dating service True.com with scantily clad woman in suggestive poses posted on sites like MySpace and AskMen.com. According to a story in MediaPost, one True ad popped up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
A True.com ad showed up Tuesday morning associated with a story in the New York Post detailing the ongoing investigation into the sexual assault and murder of graduate student Imette St. Guillen. What's worse is that, according to MediaPost:
"The ad, placed by aQuantive's DrivePM, promoted True.com--and in an especially bizarre coincidence, the creative, which carried the tagline "Get Soaked By Love," featured a young dark-haired woman who physically resembled St. Guillen, staring suggestively at the camera. True.com, which bills itself as an especially safe dating service because it screens all members for a criminal history, said it would not have approved of having an ad accompany this particular story." Because the ad was run through DrivePM it was virtually impossible to predict where it would show up on the New York Post but, according to MediaPost, "by Tuesday evening, DrivePM had made arrangements to remove the ad from its rotation on the Post's site." Kim's Comments:
Perhaps an accident like this will make the marketing team at True think twice about their campaign that objectifies women and seems to hypocritically promote behavior that would appeal to those very same people that True are trying show to media and lawmakers that they weed out through background checks. But, probably not.
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