Sunday usually isn’t a day I write blog posts, but I figured since my homework for tomorrow is done I’d catch up on email, read a few of my favorite blogs, see what might spark an inspiration to write a bit or take a nap. Decisions decisions! When I went to sign into Yahoo, I saw this ad. What do ya know, a post in the making!
Do you think ANY of those women have a hard time finding a date? Yeah, me neither. So, why would they allow their photos to be used in a digital meat market ad like this? Yes, the target demographic for this ad IS men. This may seem like petty jealousy to some people. If you are one of those people, this post is not for you. Move along, there’s nothing to see here. If you met the love of your life on date dot com, good for you. This post is not about bashing online dating sites. Seriously.
So, I shook my head, dropped an expletive on the floor and then singed into my email. Of course there were the same old sure-fire cures for my erectile dysfunction waiting in my spam folder. I always check the spam, I don’t know why. It’s not like I’m going to wake up one day and suddenly be, um idunno, needing penis enlargement to boost my self-esteem. I guess it makes me feel superior to goober heads who work in the spam industry. Yes, it’s an industry. Just like the economy of war there’s an economy of spam. Who knew?
Google Images
One of my favorite bloggers, Michelle @ the Green Study has an excellent post today. She always knows just what to say to make me laugh and think and roll my eyes and shake my head in agreement. Today was no different. I share her wish to see articles in so-called women’s magazines with titles like “How to make No mean No: Giving a Beat Down He Won’t Forget” or “Self-Defense for Parking Lots: Keys are for Eyeballs, Knees are for Groins” or “50 Ways to Leave Your Abuser”. Michelle’s humor is right on the mark and her post gets to the heart of not only what is wrong with the thinking behind marketing to women but also what is terribly wrong with how women are perceived “collectively as state property.” Read her post and be enlightened.
Honie Briggs 
I read Michelle’s piece – spot on! I wonder how successful match.com ads would be if they used images from http://www.peopleofwalmart.com
You must have been pretty hot under the collar if you “singed into [your] email.” I take it you intended to send some flame posts! 😛
I try to avoid logging into Facebore, but sometimes I need to. The ads for singles’ sites are quite amusing. Who knew that on a “single older women” dating site I could potentially meet so many young-ish women with very large breasts…. all of whom are apparently waiting to hear from me now.
I can’t imagine being single in today’s world, it is so brutal. I have a friend currently trying the on-line dating game, she tells me the stories and I am begging her to write a guest post. Terrible, simply terrible.
Off now to check your recommendation.
Thanks, Honie for the mention! I enjoyed reading your funny commentary on spam! SO much of it out there – and as you say, targeted at men to the point we assume the world is populated with desperate humans in need of organ enlargements.
I think what you are sharing in this series of essays is important. You have real life experience and give real life examples of how not to be a victim. Who knows, the life you save could be mine! 🙂
I love your comment to acflory. (You’re right is does summon up visions of mail order brides. hadn’t thought of that before)
I prefer the non-chattel approach to relationships, but some people still go for that. So…
Like Weebs said, she and Mr. Weebs found each other on the web and that’s proof enough that it works. 😉
Hey girl! As I told Meeka, I met Mr. Weebs online but man, online dating is brutal. Even worse than real-life meat markets. Michelle’s blog is great. If only Cosmo really ran articles that were HELPFUL instead of “Secrets to mindblowing sex” that are neither secret nor mindblowing.
“Neither secret nor mindblowing.” EXACTLY! It’s great that you and Mr. Weebs made a digital love connection. This ad strikes me as some sort of female pez dispenser or a chick vending machine.
I actually have friends who have found love via online dating but… I can’t honestly imagine anything worse. I’d far rather meet someone while doing something interesting to both of us – like origami? I’m kidding, I’m hopeless at origami. My point is, wouldn’t you want to meet someone you have something in common with? I just don’t get the attraction of the meat market.
Hi Meeka! I actually met Mr. Weebles online, but before I did, I thought, “This is ridiculous. The only guys I’ll find online are idiots and creeps.” It’s a very strange thing, the online scene.
Really??? lol Perhaps I’ll find my Prince Charming yet. ;D
Including the online dating ad in the post was really just to point out the mail order brideishness of this particular ad. It rings a bit too much like a hawker shouting pick a woman, any woman, choose your prize, everyone’s a winner! The ad doesn’t say to me, probably because I’m not the target audience, our online dating site is a safe place for single adults to meet other single adults, who have been pre-screened to make sure they aren’t creeps, and possibly help people develop meaningful relationships. Of course, that may not be what they’re trying to say. 🙂
Hmmm…no, I don’t think safe environments are top of their list. 😉