Here’s a little head-scratcher I came across this morning while listening to the radio: www.ashleymadison.com. It’s a dating website whose tagline is “When Monogamy Becomes Monotony.” It’s designed to facilitate dating between members who are already married. Now, one would think that working for an agency that facilitates affairs would be somewhat morally troubling, even in a culture that’s a big fan of fleeting marital commitments. So the founder and president works overtime trying to justify the business. The resulting interview on the radio was the most masterful use of double-talk I’ve ever heard.
The argument went something like this:
“We’re not making it easier for people to cheat on their spouses, nor are we encouraging them to cheat. We’re facilitating affairs in a way that makes them safer for the cheater. People sign up for the service of their own free will, so they bear the full responsibility of their wrecked marriages.”
Now, I don’t know how advertising safe cheating doesn’t count as tempting people, but I marvel at the founder’s wordsmithing ability. I don’t know that I could keep it up.
I wonder if he could make the same argument if he were advertising assault rifles over the internet using the campaign “Shoot your boss and get away with it.” “We’re not encouraging workplace violence. We’re just making it safe for people to gun down their co-workers.”
The website is worth a visit just to see their advertising. It says “as seen on… Dr. Phil… 20/20… etc., etc.” but most of the segments on it are extremely negative. In the Dr. Phil segment, the founder argues that it’s not immoral because it’s not illegal. Thankfully, moral discourse in the popular square hasn’t degraded enough that people are willing to buy that one. On the plus side, the Dr. Phil segment does involve one of the producers going undercover and surprising a would-be cheater. Maybe that will convince viewers that it won’t be entirely safe for them to use the service.
October 5, 2007 at 11:13 pm |
I remember hearing about a company like this last summer on NPR, although that company was not so unabashedly pro-affair. Basically, they stated that these sort of fabrication services to people, who were free to use them as they desired. They could be for affairs, sure, but perhaps their clients were using them to stage elaborate surprise parties for their wives, instead!