Bumble (BMBL) , a dating app that claims to put women first, is waving the white flag and is withdrawing its controversial ads on celibacy that has had social media up in arms about the message it communicates to women.
The ads, which are part of Bumble’s new global campaign, have been plastered on billboards across the country with messages denouncing consumers’ commitments to abstaining from sex.
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“You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer,” read one Bumble billboard spotted in California.
“A vow of celibacy is not the answer,” read another Bumble billboard ad.
Many users took to social media to hold Bumble’s feet to the fire about the ads’ messaging, calling them offensive to women.
Hey @bumble your new ads make me want to delete your app - your CMO and marketing dept should be ashamed.
— Alessandra Bifulco (@aebifulco) May 13, 2024
The Bumble billiard is soooo fucking gross
— Jo 🥀 (@alaskansunhat) May 13, 2024
There’s truly a war against women
In an emailed statement to TheStreet a Bumble spokesperson claimed that language in the ads were a response to the “frustrations of dating,” and that it will be removing the ads after facing negative feedback from consumers.
“Women’s experiences are at the center of what we do at Bumble. As part of our recent marketing campaign, we included an ad with language around celibacy as a response to the frustrations of dating. We have heard the concerns shared about the ad’s language and understand that rather than highlighting a current sentiment towards dating, it may have had a negative impact on some of our community. This was not our intention and we are in the process of removing it from our marketing campaign, and will continue to listen to the feedback from our members," wrote the spokesperson from Bumble.
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Bumble has had a major change in leadership this year. Its CEO Lidiane Jones officially joined the company in January and has been on a mission to transform Bumble after it faced a net loss of $32 million during the first quarter of 2024. The loss comes amid reports that younger people are starting to abandon the app as they prefer to meet their potential partners in person. According to a survey last year by Axios/Generation Lab, 79% of college and graduate students across the country said that they don't use dating apps.
“I think there is a generational transition that we are seeing,” said Jones during an earnings call on Feb. 27.
Since Jones took over, Bumble rolled out a new feature on its app last month that aimed to empower women on its platform The feature called “Opening Moves” allows men to initiate conversation with women, which abandons the app’s previous requirement for women to make the first move.
The new feature and the controversial celibacy ads are a part of Bumble's new global campaign that was launched last month where it claims that the app will be undergoing an "evolution."
“With this new global campaign, we wanted to take a fun, bold approach in celebrating the first chapter of our app’s evolution and remind women that our platform has been solving their needs from the start,” said Bumble Chief Marketing Officer Selby Drummond, according to Campaign US.
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