Following yesterday’s post on the JDate scandal, other bloggers have chimed in on the issue. And, unlike me, they don’t see what all the fuss is about.
There is Miriam:
Ha’aretz is full of righteous indignation over its shocking discovery that… JDate’s advertising banners do not feature real people! Ok, so granted, they didn’t have to use porn stars, but c’mon, they’re marketing a product, and of course they’re going to go for models.—-It’s hard to believe Ha’aretz takes this at face value and does not realize that JDate’s only real purpose is to make money for its owners. In fact, it sounds to me that by writing up this story as an enormous, serious expose rather than as a funny vignette or a tale of a misguided marketing move, Ha’aretz is deliberately blowing a story out of proportion in order to sell papers. Kinda similar to the way JDate is deliberately misrepresenting its members in order to sell memberships.
And Harry:
I fail to see what the big deal is with Jdate’s use of porn models in their advertisements. Everything else in this world is sold by using sex so why not Jdate? And did anyone honestly believe that Bracha from the Upper West Side was going to look like “porn model” Kari Gold? And what the hell is a “porn model” anyway? Porn actress maybe, but porn model?—-Anyway, I know that a lot of religious folk looking for serious partners use Jdate. I also know many people who currently use or at some point used Jdate for the purpose of getting laid.
While I see their point that JDate is a business, which realizes that “sex sells”, I still posit that, as a business, they have a responsibility not to engage in misleading and deceptive conduct. Yes, they are marketing a service, but with it comes responsibilities and consumer protection. They should realize that their clientele consists of a great many people genuinely looking for love (and not just to “get laid”, as Harry puts it). And when someone is genuinely looking for love, they may honestly want to believe that Bracha from the Upper West Side looks like “porn model” Kari Gold.
If the banner merely showed pictures of these women, then I would agree that this is acceptable. But once a fictitious “profile” is written in the ads, I think that the line has been crossed.
And while I have no doubt that Ha’aretz want to blow this story out of proportion, this does not detract from the fact that JDate’s conduct is not kosher.
