OnePlus “Ladies First” invite contest adds sexism as another embarrassing black eye to eCommerce
If you weren’t already annoyed by the fact that you’d need an invite to buy a OnePlus One, you were probably ticked off at the environmentally irresponsible Phone Smash idea. If that didn’t quite get under your skin, OnePlus has come up with another “genius” contest that’s bound to stir up some foul press.
Meet the “Ladies First” contest, an all-women affair where you don’t even have a chance to win an invite if you don’t have the correct chromosomes. Here are the simple rules of the contest as laid out by OnePlus One:
- Draw the OnePlus logo on a piece of paper or on your hand/face/wherever (so we know it’s really you)
- Take a photo of yourself with the OnePlus logo clearly visible
- Post the photo in this thread
And it goes without saying: no nudes. 150 ladies are poised to win — that is, if OnePlus can even get that many legit entries.
As cheeky and respectful as OnePlus meant to make this contest (their angle is that chivalry isn’t dead and that men should still let the ladies go first), I’m sure more than one male eager to grab this phone is feeling quite disrespected at the fact that OnePlus continues to use shenanigans like this to sell a smartphone.
To top all that off, no one is even taking this contest seriously. Many folks are resorting to taking internet photos of beautiful women which barely pass the “NSFW” test and photoshopping the OnePlus logo on them. A few legit entries did make it through, though we’re sure a couple of them are not the type of entries OnePlus was hoping to see. Here’s one that’s especially punctual and eye-opening:
Though user R2D8 was quick to mention she still wants her invite.
So not only do you draw unnecessary negative attention to yourself by making a gender-specific contest, you can’t even have the contest go as intended. There are several issues at play here:
- The first problem is making a contest that’s gender specific. That should have been the first red flag and the marketing manager should have shot this idea down immediately.
- To add to that, using most “liked” photos as a way to pick winners is just another way of saying “this is a hot or not contest, and the hottest chicks get the invites.”
It all comes together in a pot of boiling garbage that can only lead to a very disgusting dish. Needless to say, OnePlus should probably focus more energy on figuring out a way to end this invite nonsense than to come up with more of these ridiculous ideas that have done absolutely nothing to help their brand. Get it together guys.
[via OnePlus]