SinglesNet Exploiting Women in its Advertising

SinglesNet Dating Service Exploiting Women for Profits
by Joe Tracy, Publisher of Online Dating Magazine

(November 2008) Back in April 2005 we first wrote about how online dating service True.com was exploiting women in its advertising. Now, several years later, another online dating service has spent millions of dollars in exploiting women in order to pad its pocketbook. But this time it isn't True.com. It's SinglesNet. For nearly a year SinglesNet has been using sleazy advertising to attract users and they are showing no signs of slowing down. Some online venues, like Online Dating Magazine, have banned SinglesNet from showing image or text ads via Google Adsense. Others happily participate in the exploitation to try and make extra money.

Before we go on, here are just a few of the images that SinglesNet is running:

singlesnet ad

singlesnet

One thing we know is that, in general, many more men sign up for online dating services than women.: The smart dating services aim their advertising at attracting women in order to create a better balance. Without balance, you will have a plethora of dissatisfied members.

So when a dating service like SinglesNet exploits women sexually for its personal gain, they are running a huge risk of creating a massive unbalance in the ratio of men to women. One of the main reasons is that women are turned off by this type of advertising. For most women, it disgusts them. The Gender and Media Monitor (Issue #8) cites research showing that in the UK, two thirds of women felt that advertisers go too far in using sex to sell their product. Other research shows that in Canada, up to 74% of women are often or sometimes offended by the portrayal of women in advertising. Women, in general, appear to have little interest in a site that exploits them.

So why, then, would a dating service like SinglesNet sink so low as to not only alienate women, but also disgust them?

When online dating services resort to this type of advertising, they may get a temporary boost of revenue (from guys), but face a massive branding disaster from both men and women. Most women don't appreciate that type of advertising and not only avoid services that use it, but also have a negative opinion of them overall. Men who sign up will quickly discover that the service is nothing like the advertisements and that men outnumber women something like 10-1. With no "success", they leave the service dissatisfied.

There are long term consequences for this type of behavior. Short term thinking doesn't bring about long term success. To bring about long term success, you need to build a reputable brand. SinglesNet appear to only be building a negative reputation.

In addition to its perceived sleazy advertising and exploitation of women, SinglesNet has also been known to promote discreet affairs in its advertising. They do this mostly through Google Adsense. As a result of this and its visual ads, SinglesNet is losing its status as a true online dating service and is branding itself more as a "sex and affairs" Website. It's a shame that yet another service has put a dark cloud over people's perceptions of the online dating industry. Online dating remains the best possible venue to meet your true soulmate. Yet services like SinglesNet do everything possible to kill that perception.

Joe Tracy, Publisher
Online Dating Magazine
jtracy@onlinedatingmagazine.com

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