Tinder’s latest partnership is a strange, annoying match
In this guest post Jake Quade argues while Tinder’s latest campaign with an organ donation charity is worthy, it could end up hurting both brands.
Tinder’s latest partnership a strange, annoying match Tinder has had a rough time with publicity already, but to make matters worse they’ve now gone and thrown another company into the deep end.
What’s even worse is that it’s an organ donation group.
The mobile dating service recently partnered with the NHS Organ Donor Register for their latest media campaign, whereby random Tinder users will be shown celebrity matches.
Those who swipe right to the match will then be prompted with a message which states “If only it was that easy for those in need of a life saving organ to find a match”.
Afterward, they’re taken to a form asking them to sign up to the donation register.
While it’s much better than their previous attempt at native media marketing and any promotion of a good cause is welcome news, more than anything the new collaboration signals a jaded understanding of user intent, and could actually see a ‘falling out of favour’ for both parties, for two main reasons.
Firstly, it’s quite surprising the collaboration happened at all. The app’s CEO, Sean Rad, has been in a spiral of negative media attention since who knows when – it was less than a month ago he suffered an embarrassing freudian slip, and even Tinder’s parent group, Match Media, have officially distanced themselves from the CEO since the event.
Remember, this is only the most recent blunder – there’s been countless alleged and proven physical attacks that have come about as a result of matched people meeting in person.
Is the infamous dating platform genuinely trying to turn its image around?
It might indeed be a sad irony if any of the attack survivors end up needing an organ transplant.
Aside from the pairing of these two companies, the actual campaign itself seems a little halfbaked. Anyone who’s used the app even half regularly would have noticed the steady increase in its monetisation, particularly the prevalence of advertisements (although the limitation of likes was another significant handicap) on the platform.
If you do remember these ads, you’ll also remember how you did anything you could to get them off your screen as quickly as possible.
Now we see a collaboration that essentially takes the user further from their intent (which is to keep swiping), and pushes yet another ‘Sign Up Now!’ form under their noses.
If something that the Organ Registry previously utilised from their audience was a feeling of compassion, they might quickly see it swing into annoyance.
Yes, we do wish it was easier for organ donors to find a match, but I’d also hazard a guess that they’re more likely to find one amongst people who are actively trying to help, as opposed to locate others who find them visually attractive.
While it’s nice to see a positive change in the dating app’s media coverage, it would have been nice if the collaboration was a bit more targeted at both what the app users were already after, and perhaps dribbled down into their interests and habits to provide something a bit more personalised.
Instead, those looking to find a quick match this weekend might be greeting with the words ‘register now’ yet again.
- Jake Quade is a Digital Strategist at finder.com
