This week's unrecommend: Bumble tried to rescue dating by delivering the same feeling of disappointment you get from a bad date via their new ad campaign instead. The teaser executions were exciting - but when it got to the big reveal, the brand came off as a total bore. The internet got furious for another reason though: in trying to sell better dating, Bumble decided to attack celibacy:
Strategically speaking, it seems obvious that the opposite of searching for good shagging is not shagging at all. I understand the logic and I very much doubt whoever came up with this thought 'you know what, let's come up with an anti-female-empowering idea that pisses off the celibates.' I'm seriously surprised that people didn't protest against the fact these ads are just very average.
Am I missing something? I was already married in the pre-app period, but even I was curious about the 'changes' they talked about and expecting a lot more on how they would actually improve dating. Bumble, you had your hands in our pants, but failed to find the clit.
The song of the summer: Unless you live on another planet or consider yourself too cool to download Tiktok, you've heard the hit 'I'm looking for a man in finance' by Megan Boni. As it popped up nonstop in my feed and was remixed by thousands of people, I tried to hate it. Instead, I ended up hating myself for not having the same audacity of that girl in my 20s. When I was 20-something my ultimate type was some sort of broke artist: dishevelled, skinny and tall. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work out, so I started to search for that one degree below artists, which is what everyone who works in advertising considers themselves to be. If TikTok existed in 2008, this would be my song of the summer, how sad:
"I'm looking for a man in advertising,
5'8"
Skinny Tie
22k/year
I'm looking for a man... I'm looking for a man.
5'8" Skinny tie 22k... 22k... 22k..."
Long live Gen Z!
We're all Steven: Like Steven, I spent the last 6 months thinking I was dead myself:
Bad Monday for us Arsenal fans, so let's just savour these shots of Man City players leaving the club at 5am:
Quote of the week: “As a child living in Jerusalem, we used to visit churches and convents. I always wanted to redesign the nun’s outfit - they just weren’t dressed correctly. Jesus wasn’t a very good designer.” Barbara Hulanicki, designer.
All right, Barbara. I got help from AI to reimagined a world where Jesus was a bit more fashionable. These nuns would make the Bumble ad a bit cooler for sure:
Until next week my 22 lovely subscribers!