Being fed by us you used us so
As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo’s bird,
Useth the sparrow. – William Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV (V, i)
You’ve got to admire Noel Biderman’s marketing skill; year after year, he repeatedly manages to get credulous journalists to run the equivalent of full-page (or even multi-page) ads for his sleazy dating service, Ashley Madison, for free. And how does he accomplish this? By disguising them as newsworthy stories, like this one from early June:
According to AshleyMadison.com, many dads will be spending Father’s Day with children they didn’t spawn…the dating site, which targets married people looking to cheat on their spouses, surveyed 102,137 of its philandering female members about whether or not they had ever become pregnant with another man’s child and passed the baby off as their husband’s. Nine percent admitted that they had done so, and that their husbands are not aware of it. An additional 16 percent admitted that they’re not positive about who fathered one or more of their kids. And among the women in those two groups, 72.4 percent revealed that it’s their youngest child whose father is in question…the day after Father’s Day is one of the busiest days of the year for the site — possibly because of these paternity issues…We’re not quite sure what to make of these findings, but we do know one thing: Ashley Madison sure is making a name for itself in…infidelity “research”…
Well, at least the HuffPo staff writer had the particle of skepticism necessary to put the word “research” in scare quotes. One could do a full-length academic paper on the problems with this “study”, not the least of which is that it’s highly doubtful Ashley Madison has over 100,000 unique married female human members who would truthfully answer such a survey in the first place; it’s also difficult to imagine an entity more biased toward certain research outcomes, except perhaps Melissa Farley’s “Prostitution Research and Education”.
It used to be that only rags like HuffPo (which does not pay for most of its content) would print nakedly self-serving rubbish like this, but that was before Biderman developed his skill at producing highly questionable “data” to trafficking-fetishist like levels, the better to slip his advertising eggs into the nests of clueless journalists:
We all know the stereotype of people who use AshleyMadison.com…Sleazy guys, who vastly outnumber women on the site. Turns out that’s changing, according to a new set of user data provided to Business Insider by Ashley Madison CEO Noel Biderman…Among users under 35, women and men are now split 50-50…There are still more men than women on the site, but…the proportion of single women looking for married lovers — 28% — is far greater than that of single men…New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day bring the most new signups. “Those days are litmus tests for how you feel about your family,” Biderman says…
How generous of him to “provide” this no doubt totally accurate, peer-reviewed, independently-audited data! Incidentally, I’m rather proud of my part in creating that “stereotype”, which has received roughly 40,000 page views so far. And here’s my official theory on those “under 35” figures: if there’s any truth to it at all (a shaky possibility at best), most of ‘em are escorts and would-be sugar babies. Anyway, take a look at that article, festooned with tasteful AM graphics like the one at right, and marvel at Biderman’s supervillain-like genius in being able to sell this pig to a business magazine as an informative article rather than being charged for it as a featured ad. And then wonder, given the subject of the first “planted” article above, if he isn’t having a private laugh at reporters presenting his literary offspring as their own.
My sincere thanks to Contact a CEO for calling these articles to my attention; this isn’t the first time they’ve tipped me off on Biderman’s shenanigans, and I’m sure it won’t be the last!
Seems to me at least half of what I read in the mainstream media is cuckoo advertising (Great term. Yours?).
Yep. 🙂
I think that if you look at EVERY on-line dating site, including the most well-known and well-respected like Match.com or even christiansingles.com, you will find that men greatly outnumber women. The reason why, as you have mentioned several times on your website, is fairly obvious even though many women are still in denial about it.
I don’t think he’s an advertising genius. He’s got a sex site and journalists love salacious stories – that’s the formula.
He’s got a lot of energy but not much “smarts” in my opinion.
The beeb had a programme related to this recently. It was about how dating sites buy profiles, the people who sell them, and those whose job it is to pretend to be real people. Ashley Madison wasn’t directly mentioned.I’m not sure if it can be viewed outside the UK.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b037wr14/Panorama_Tainted_Love_Secrets_of_the_Dating_Game/
I wasn’t able to view it. I live in Texas.
The link I clicked from there said I couldn’t view it outside the UK, but then it said that maybe I could, but then it said maybe I couldn’t. I never did find out how. Maybe it’s because I just got up thirty minutes ago, but I feel all confewzled.
When I first heard of Ashley Madison, I figured it was for some kind of compensated dating. Mainly because Websites advertising “Horny sluts want your body, look for hassle free hookups in your area today,” are always going to be scams.
I will say that all dating Websites seem to suck. Men can’t find anyone at all, and women get swamped by agressive men who they wouldn’t want. My cousin constantly posts horror stories from the distaff side on her Facebook.
The only exception I’ve ever seen were overseas matchmakers, where everybody is getting something out of the deal. A friend of mine married a gorgeous young Russian girl that way. Of course, that’s the reason why Sam Brownback and the Neofeminists (the worst rock band ever) clamped down on that sort of thing. Can’t have stuff that actually helps everyone involved, must be trafficking! (Yes, foreign bride matchmaking services were conflated with trafficking in order to pass restrictive laws against them)
I would never turn to a normal, American dating Website if, God forbid, I ever found myself single again, for much the same reason I don’t head over to McDonald’s when I’m feeling hungry. I can’t eat McDonald’s food without feeling sick later, and I suspect that the same kind of pain would await me on a “fast food” dating Website. Nope, no thanks.
Nothing wrong with sex but this press release as news stuff is getting stupider as it gets more “sophisticated.” Ashley Madison sucks anyway. Over priced and under performing. Guys in the know stick to pay-for-play sex. Easy, no mess action on demand.
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I doubt somebody going through AM even saves any money over hiring an escort.
But you do know that sometimes using the personal ads people can find those who do things like I always have…smile.
Yes. Using an honest personal ad might lead to a golddigger, but it can also lead to an ethical slut, sex angel, or severely messed up individual human being. Just like meeting people in any way can.
AM seems not to be an honest personal ad. GGGGRRRR………..
Dear Sailor Barsoom, if we just give into the “glooooom and doooooom” mentality that the “world system” (GAG) pushes we’ll never know. Don’t even date certain groups of people! Don’t ever do it! It’s too risky! So much for giving individuals chances. Stay in those safe little category boxes people. It’s so open-minded to say don’t even date certain groups of people…LOL.
I took a chance and dated a woman with a cat. Actually, you had TWO of the furry little killing machines when we met. If I was willing to take a chance like THAT… 😉
LOL…that was cool.
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