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MINI SCROLL: How Bumble alienated Gen Z with anti-celibacy ads · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, Welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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  Every Monday through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  I am in my Fashion Week outfit. Well, I have been the last two
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  days, but this was the first day that I was like, dressed by a
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  brand. So that's why I might look a
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  little bit fancier, but it was actually my last day at Fashion
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  Week. So Alex is going to something
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  later this week for us. And then that is it.
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  A wrap on Fashion Week? Oh my God.
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  Also, I had such a wild experience last night.
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  I talked about it on TikTok. I've been vlogging my week for
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  you guys, so go follow me on TikTok if you don't, which I
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  don't think hardly any of you do, 'cause I don't even have
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  1000 followers. But I talked about in that vlog
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  and I put it on my reels as well on Instagram.
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  But last night I was at a fashion show.
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  It was a nighttime show and on one side, on my left was a man
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  who was like normal and we were making small talk and whatever.
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  And then on my right was another man.
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  And as soon as he sat down, I could just tell he was really
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  drunk and just so obnoxious and loud and Oh my God, he was
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  getting in my space so much. Like he would just like lean
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  over and like make jokes. And anyways, I went into detail
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  about it, but it escalated after a man on my left told him to
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  leave me alone because he just wouldn't get out of my space.
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  He kept talking to me, He kept, like harassing me and bothering
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  me. And at one point I was just
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  like, I don't know what's going on.
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  Basically saying like, please leave me alone.
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  And then that's one guy on my left said to him like, leave her
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  alone, dude, Like, stop. And that pissed him off.
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  And he ended up pushing me with all of his might.
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  Both arms, like, fully pushed me right into this other man,
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  'cause he was pissed, presumably, that we were telling
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  him to stop and to like, leave us alone.
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  And I fell backwards. It's like benches that you sit
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  on at Fashion Week. So there was nothing behind me.
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  I was falling backwards, thank God.
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  I caught myself and the guy helped me on my left, helped me
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  kind of like get back up. So I didn't fully fall on the
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  ground, but it was horrific. So that was Fashion Week Day 2
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  for me. But I just came back from a show
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  and that was an amazing experience.
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  I had a good time today, so let's get in to today's episode.
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  I was asked to speak about the Bumble Celibacy ad and apology,
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  and I was going to make it one of three stories today.
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  But as I started thinking about it and writing it out, I
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  realized there's just so much to say.
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  So this will be the only story for today and then tomorrow,
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  even if like the most happens overnight, I will just give you
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  guys as many stories as I need to because I still really want
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  to talk about the two other stories that I had for today.
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  But I just, it's going to be way too long.
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  So let's get into Bumble And this, I feel, deserves its own
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  episode. All right, So Bumble has
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  apologized for its anti celibacy ads that sparked backlash
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  earlier this week. So some background on these ads.
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  As part of a rebrand for Bumble, the company placed billboards
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  all around LA that poked fun at women choosing voluntary
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  celibacy, 1 Billboard said. You know full well a vow of
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  celibacy is not the answer and another said thou shalt not give
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  up on dating and become a nun. Understandably, the advertising
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  sparked intense backlash online, as obviously women are not
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  resorting to something as extreme as celibacy or like,
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  fully giving up dating for fun, right?
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  It's a it's a result of fearing for their safety and an
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  amalgamation of experiences that just makes them feel like
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  there's no point and I might as well just protect myself and my
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  peace and stop dating. So this campaign was part of a
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  bigger rebrand for Bumble. A few weeks ago, Bumble wiped
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  its Instagram account and started teasing a new vibe for
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  the brand. They posted a bunch of those,
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  like, dramatic painting inspired images of Victorian era women
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  who were tired of dating. You know, the ones they were
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  like, lounging around. It's the meme, right?
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  They posted a bunch of things that were like related to the
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  meme, you know, that baby that like Victorian era baby that's
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  like wrapped up like swaddled. And it's like me when I get home
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  from work, like that's literally me.
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  That is actually me. So this style of imagery is a
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  very popular on TikTok. It's a meme that young people
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  recognize, obviously. And it was a very chronically
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  online move for the brand and prior to them announcing what
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  this actual rebrand was, which was essentially just some
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  feature updates and allowing in some cases men to message first,
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  which already sparked some backlash considering bumbles.
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  Whole thing is like you make the first move, women taking their
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  power back and dating. But anyways, people had high
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  hopes for this rebrand and it was like, Oh my God, they're
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  really targeting Gen. Z.
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  And this is going to work because the imagery and the vibe
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  of their Instagram account of their socials, like it felt very
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  of the moment. It felt very on the pulse.
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  So there were high hopes, but like I said, those high hopes
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  came crashing down. I mean, crashing is a bit
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  extreme, but people, it didn't live up to what people I think
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  hoped for or expected. Based on the hype and I would
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  say based on the rebrand, like the imagery that they used, the
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  meme culture that they were leaning into, I would say that
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  this rebrand was targeted at Gen.
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  ZI. Think that makes sense.
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  Gen. Z probably has the biggest
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  cohort of single women, and there has been research over the
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  years that shows Gen. Z is actually less sexually
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  active and less interested in dating than previous
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  generations. And we also know that Gen.
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  Z is just not as enamored with dating apps and online dating as
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  previous generations were. I mean, I know for me, I was
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  single when Bumble came out in my early 20s and it was so
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  exciting. And Tinder too.
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  Like I was on those apps when they first came out and it was
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  literally just Bumble and Tinder were the only two.
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  I'm sure there were other dating apps, but those were the two
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  that people were using and it was so exciting.
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  It was like something we've never seen before.
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  It was so novel. And obviously that's just not
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  how Gen. Z feels about it because they've
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  grown up their whole dating life, they've had apps, so they
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  are a difficult generation to reach in general for brands, but
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  especially, I would say, for dating apps.
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  The two biggest theories that people have when it comes to
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  what went wrong here is the first people think there were no
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  women in the room of like conceptualizing this campaign.
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  And the second is they think Bumble didn't pre test this
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  campaign, which is I'm not super sure, I might get this slightly
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  wrong, but it's basically when they hire some external company
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  and they like bring it to market before a brand actually brings
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  it to market, you know, so they like test how consumers react to
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  it, engage with it and feel about it.
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  So those are the two biggest things that I've seen on like
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  marketing TikTok where people think that this went wrong, what
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  I think went wrong. I don't think there was
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  necessarily no women in the room.
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  I think there might have not been any Gen.
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  Zed women in the room. And the reason why I think that
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  is because to me, this feels like they tried to reach Gen.
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  Z by speaking to them as if Bumble is their friend.
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  Like they tried to jump in on Gen.
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  ZS very like specific and savage kind of humor that is very
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  unique to that generation. But the problem is that, and I
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  see marketers do this a lot, they lump millennials and Gen.
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  Z together as just one big generation of like young people.
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  And they don't realize that there are so many differences
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  between these two generations for millennials.
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  We loved when brands spoke to us like our friends.
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  Like if you think about the culture we grew up in, it was
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  pre social media, it was magazines like that was our
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  culture. That is how our formative years,
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  like our preteen and teen years, that's what that was all about.
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  And the concept of a magazine, especially like a preteen or a
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  teen magazine, is to be like your bigger sister who is
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  speaking to you like somebody who is older than you and is in
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  the know and is giving you advice, right.
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  That's kind of the whole thing, the whole shtick of those kinds
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  of magazines. So millennials, like we were
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  down as fuck to be told who we were, what we liked, what we
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  should be doing, what we should try.
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  And we were down for that. To come from like a friendly
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  quote, UN quote, voice Gen. Z is very different.
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  They did not grow up with that type of media.
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  They didn't grow up with magazines in that same way.
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  And they grew up with influencer culture.
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  They didn't grow up with people telling them what to do or who
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  to be. They grew up with this whole
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  platform like social media where you could find any type of
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  person that you thought was cool and you could, you know, follow
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  them and emulate them. And social media just gives you
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  such an opportunity to express yourself and find your own niche
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  where you don't have to be so uniform in the same way that
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  previous generations you know, who are reading all the same
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  magazines. We ended up being very much the
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  same. So as a result, Gen.
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  Z is not so interested in being spoken to in that way of, like,
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  telling them what to do. So the actual, like, ad copy on
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  these billboards just didn't hit 'cause it was quite literally
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  like, Thou shalt not like telling them what to do.
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  And they do not like that, even if it's like in a funny, quirky
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  kind of way. Gen.
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  Z doesn't want that, like, friendship vibe from brands.
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  Instead, they really want brands to address issues and they want
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  to feel supported and heard by the brands that they support.
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  They want to feel in control. So off the bat, this messaging
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  was always going to fall flat with Gen.
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  Z. And another big aspect of Gen.
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  Z is that they are a generation who are change makers and they
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  set boundaries. And we know this, We know we
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  talk about it all the time. Like there's so much
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  conversation about how Gen. Z has all these boundaries in
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  the workplace. And you know, it's the same old
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  thing. Millennials were entitled and
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  Gen. Z doesn't have a work ethic or
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  whatever. You know, every generation has
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  their thing when they're coming up and they're young, and the
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  older generations don't understand how they work.
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  But that's Gen. Z's thing, is that they have
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  these boundaries, right? So another aspect of why this
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  didn't work out is bumbles ads. They were making light of this
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  boundary, which is something that really defines Gen.
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  Z and is kind of their superpower.
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  However, the missing piece here that I have seen no one else
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  discuss is why dating has become worse for Gen.
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  Z women and I do believe that that comes down to Internet
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  culture. Young men now are so much more
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  likely to be exposed to misogynistic anti woman and in
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  cell ideology online than previous generations thanks to
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  the rise of social media and in particular in the last couple of
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  years TikTok. So previously men who wanted to
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  interact with that type of content engage in that kind of
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  ideology. They had to actively seek it out
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  on places like Reddit or 4 Chan or probably deeper darker places
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  on the Internet that I don't even know about.
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  But now when you're just scrolling your for you page, you
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  know you could be delivered content like that let's say
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  about looks maxing for example, right.
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  Which is not inherently anti woman but can open you up to the
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  red pill or even black pilled pipeline.
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  I mean how many of us like women?
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  I know most. It's mostly women that listen to
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  this podcast. How many of us are scrolling
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  TikTok And we see content like that ourselves, right?
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  Like, I've seen so many videos about looks maxing.
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  I did a whole podcast episode because I just kept getting
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  bombarded by content about looks maxing.
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  And if you Google looks maxing, like every major publisher has
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  covered it because it is so prevalent on TikTok.
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  Or if you think about a couple years ago, before he was banned
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  off of everything, like Andrew Tate was everywhere there for a
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  couple of months. You know, scrolling your free
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  page, you could not get off of it.
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  I mean, what about like, all those like, bro podcasts, right?
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  We're all exposed to that all the time now.
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  Whereas we would have literally never, especially as women, we
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  probably would have never been exposed to anything like that
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  before. TikTok.
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  So this constant exposure has made Gen.
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  Zed and Gen. Alpha men much more outwardly
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  misogynistic now. I don't want to get it twisted.
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  This is not me saying that Gen. Z or Gen.
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  Alpha are more misogynistic than previous generations, because I
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  think in many ways that's absolutely not true.
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  But I think it has become more socially acceptable to a follow
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  these role models quote UN quote who do espouse these types of
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  anti woman misogynistic in cell views.
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  And BI think boys and young men are more empowered than ever at
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  the moment to be outwardly anti woman because of how popular
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  this type of content is. And that doesn't even touch on
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  the fact that constantly being exposed to this type of content,
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  whether you're seeking it out or not or you believe in it or not,
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  like how that must be inherently changing the way that boys and
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  young men think about women, their attitudes towards women,
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  their behaviors towards women. Like I think a lot of it would
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  be subconscious and happening without them even realizing it.
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  The other side of that is this exposure to this type of
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  content, like I said, is not exclusive to a man's for You
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  page or a boys for you page. Women are being fed this too.
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  That's just how algorithms work, right?
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  It's like you like one video and they're like going to test the
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  waters and show you something else.
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  And it could be totally out of left field, but it will have
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  like some very slight connection to what you just liked.
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  So women are constantly also being fed all of this content
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  that is anti woman misogynistic in cell vibes that we would have
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  not known about necessarily prior to social media and
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  platforms like TikTok and Twitter.
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  So that has made young women more aware of how dangerous men
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  can be. And this is definitely a
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  generalization, but I would say that young women of previous
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  generations were a little bit more ignorant to how dangerous
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  men could be and how unsafe they actually were around men.
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  And social media, particularly TikTok, has really lifted that
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  veil for the whole generation. And like I said, Gen.
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  Z, they're change makers, they set boundaries and they stick to
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  those boundaries. So the changing culture online
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  and how that is impacting young women dating right now, they're
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  setting a boundary for themselves.
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  They're saying we're not going to stand for men being so
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  violent towards us, so anti woman so misogynistic, we're not
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  going to stand for this many men like buying into the red pill
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  ideology, black pill ideology in sell stuff.
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  So to counteract that we're just going to stop dating.
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  So all of that to say, Bumble obviously made this big mistake
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  in their marketing and sure it might have been because there
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  were no women in the room or it might have been because they
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  didn't do pre testing on the campaign.
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  But what I think also happened is that Bumble didn't have a
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  strong understanding of why young women are putting up these
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  dating boundaries and the culture online that has fostered
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  those boundaries. I think that this campaign is a
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  fundamental misunderstanding of Internet culture and Gen.
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  Z Internet culture. So one day after the backlash
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  really exploded online, Bumble issued a statement and actually
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  apologized. So they wrote to our beloved
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  Bumble community. We made a mistake.
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  Our ads referencing celibacy were an attempt to lean into a
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  community frustrated by modern dating, and instead of bringing
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  joy and humor, we unintentionally did the
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  opposite. Some of the perspectives we
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  heard were from those who shared that celibacy is the only answer
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  when reproductive rights are continuously restricted from
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  others for whom celibacy is a choice, one that we respect, and
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  from the asexual community for whom celibacy can have a
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  particular meaning and importance which should not be
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  diminished. We are also aware that for many,
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  celibacy may be brought on by harm or trauma.
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  For years, Bumble has passionately stood up for women
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  and marginalized communities and their right to fully exercise
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  personal choice. We didn't live up to these
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  values for this campaign and we apologize for the harm it
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  caused. So this apology has actually
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  been received quite well as far as I've seen.
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  It was very quick, which we appreciate.
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  You know, the general consumer, if you sit on something for too
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  long, it makes us feel like you are conspiring with PR teams.
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  And like, we know we know that every brand and every big
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  celebrity influencer that apologizes has a team behind
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  them helping them, but it makes it feel more authentic if it's a
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  really quick apology. So it was very quick.
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  It was explained really well, like what they did wrong, why it
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  was wrong, who they hurt, what they said about being hurt.
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  And then they finished by saying what they're going to be doing.
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  So they said, we're removing these ads from our global
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  marketing campaign. Bumble will be making a donation
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  to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, among other
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  organizations as a part of our ongoing efforts to support the
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  work being done around the world to support women, marginalized
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  communities and those impacted by abuse.
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  We will also be offering these partners this billboard space to
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  display an ad for their choice for the duration of our reserved
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  billboard time. So of course, giving a tangible
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  example of how they're going to use this and make good from it
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  by giving that billboard space away and making those donations
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  in general, this was a very good apology.
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  I think this is the last misstep of this magnitude that we will
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  probably see from them. I don't think they'll do
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  anything like this ever again. I think they'll be much more
• 17:58
  aware and much more conscious. And I think at the end of the
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  day, after getting an apology like that, that's all we can ask
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  for, right? Is just you stick to what you
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  said, which is this one against our values.
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  Let's get back to our core values.
• 18:13
  All right, guys. Well, that's it for today.
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  I hope you enjoyed this little kind of like a mini breakdown, a
• 18:19
  mini deep dive. As I said, I will have more
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  stories for you guys tomorrow. OK, guys, thank you so much for
• 18:24
  listening. I love you guys and I will talk
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  to you tomorrow. Bye.