(July 14, 2011) A site that only caters to “beautiful people”, BeautifulPeople.com, garnished millions of dollars in free media attention after a PR stunt where the site dumped 30,000 members for being “too ugly”. The service claims that the tens of thousands of “ugly people” managed to get onto the site as the result of a “Shrek Virus”.

Some describe BeautifulPeople.com as a discriminatory site, only allowing people with “beautiful” looks to become members. While that disgusts many people, those who run the service flaunt the “beautiful people only” angle for media attention. It works.

On June 20, BeautifulPeople.com put out a press release where it claimed that it had “been hit by a virus that allowed 30,000 ‘ugly’ people to invade the site.”

In the press release, managing director Greg Hodge says,

“We have sincere regret for the unfortunate people who were wrongly admitted to the site and who believed, albeit for a short while, that they were beautiful. It must be a bitter pill to swallow, but better to have had a slice of heaven then never to have tasted it at all.”

Since June 20 the press release, articles, interviews, radio stories, and TV stories have been spreading like a virus of their own.  More than 280 news sites have posted articles about BeautifulPeople.com and the “Shrek Virus” attack.

The move shows how a sub-par dating service can “sprint” into the “big leagues” with a bit of creativity and controversy. They may call the move, “beautiful”.