With a new advertising strategy gone incredibly wrong, Bumble, missed the mark spectacularly and managed to alienate and enrage many on the internet. Those most offended include the intended target audience the dating app wanted to convince into becoming users.
The billboards seemed to implicitly suggest that women should be ashamed of not having sex, and should be encouraged to pursue it, saying, “A vow of celibacy is not the answer,” and “Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun.” Whether you are a religious woman taking such a vow, vowing to yourself as a woman within the asexual umbrella, or even a woman who sees the value in full autonomy over one’s sex life, this advertising campaign must have the opposite effect of what it intends.
Everyone should have the complete freedom to choose with whom, when, how, and where to become intimate, not feel compelled because a company that wants them to use its app tells them to. Everyone has the right not to have or actively procure sex, for whatever their reason is, just as anyone has the right to do so, as long as everyone’s boundaries are respected. This advertising campaign gives the impression it was thought solely by men for a female audience, even though Bumble’s CEO is a woman.
A woman going by tayyy.jpeg on TikTok rightfully asked: “Who are you to tell me what is and isn’t good for me, Bumble?” Then proceeded to bring up the horrific Shade Robinson case, which is a harrowing example of how women can become victims selected and enticed by perpetrators on dating sites.
And what did Bumble say in response to the public outrage it generated?
Bumble does damage control
In its apology, Bumble seems to show awareness of what angered people in its campaign. It was a thought-out if average PR statement, which tried to go further by not only removing the offensive ads but also donating to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and exchanging the ads for ones decided by its partner organizations that support women – which is a good thing, ultimately. But what it also ought to do is make the app even safer for women, and prove those efforts if it hopes to reclaim the portion of its target audience that it just lost with this marketing misstep.
From the comments on the Instagram post, it is clear that many are not accepting the apology. “Not enough. There is no ounce of humor in what you did,” writes one comment. “Too little, too late. There’s no coming back from the demoralization and disrespect you’ve shown women with these ads,” responds another.
Bumble’s shares crumbled over this bad decision, and it comes after, it laid off over 300 employees in February. It also comes a few days after NBC interviewed CEO Lidiane Jones to promote how she was “revamping the app” and leading it “to a new era.”
“We have been on a mission to really understand what it means to be an empowered woman today,” Jones said. She further stated, “We hear our customers, that’s the key message. Our customers are telling, especially women, that they are tired; and that dating has become difficult. And we are really embracing listening to our customers.” Well, with this controversial ad campaign, the company showed that it has not quite met this goal yet.
It remains to be seen how and what Bumble will do – or not do – to reclaim the users and shareholders it just lost.