Photo Courtesy of Yahoo News
Have you been searching for Mr. Right? Have you tried internet dating only to find your match made in heaven has an aversion to deodorant and an unhealthy interest in cats? Maybe you have enlisted the help of your friends only to find that they don’t know your wants as much as you thought or they just like to have a little fun at your expense. Well, if you are still searching for a companion to share a bottle of wine ( or a bottle of Jager, to each their own), the answer may have been discovered in France.
The French have contributed greatly to the culture and style of our world. They given us the beret, the croissant, Champagne and now they are giving us men. The French dating website AdopteUnMec.com (that’s Adopt-a-Guy, for those of you whose high school French has gotten rusty) is a virtual man boutique designed to bring love into a woman’s life. It is a fun and playful alternative to traditional online dating sites. Men “sell” themselves online with stellar profiles. Women “browse” the “merchandise” looking for the perfect man to purchase in the “market of love.” The shopping terminology used by the website is suppose to induce a cheeky, fun way to help women match up their interest to find a compatible dating partner!
The Fun Continues with Pop-Up Stores
Is Le Geek you style of man? Photo Courtesy of digitalspy.com
With a reported 300 million page views a month, the website decided to exploit their online fame by debuting their Adopt-a-Guy pop-up shop in Paris on September 11. The pop-up shop puts real men on display in Barbie doll-like boxes for women to walk among, snap pictures, and share some laughs with their girlfriends. The men, not actual eligible bachelors, but male models paid to pose like “Mr. Muscle” and “Mr. Rocker” patiently pose in the confines of their life-sized boxes smiling for the lovely ladies and collecting their pay at the end of the day for a job well done.
The pop-up shop is will begin a 10 city tour after leaving Paris in order to promote the Adopt-a-Guy website and the services that it offers to single women.
Will Controversy Follow the Pop-Up Store Tour?
Mr. Muscle creates some drama. Photo Courtesy of Shine Yahoo
Already, critics are in an uproar claiming exploitation. These critics of Adopt-a-Guy make a valid point that if women were treated as commodity, publicy displayed and offered “for sale” the backlash against such a company would be inevitable.
In reality, if we take away the pop-up shop promotional tour, we are left with a dating website. The website appears to be no different than other online dating sites. Of course, the site is entirely in French, so my expertise here is limited. It seems to me that the concern about the website may lie more in the terminology used which makes it sound as if men are being bought and sold like cattle. Supporters of the website say that the sales terms used are to make the experience light, fun and give women a sense of empowerment.
What do you think? Is this website any different than eHarmony or Match.com? Do the pop-up stores hurt the credibility of the dating website? Do you think people need to have more of a sense of humor? Let us know! We want to hear from you!
About Denise McGrail![[Google]](/wp-content/plugins/easy-adsense-lite/google-light.gif)
As you indicate there are two different topics here, the first being the promotional stunt marketing the dating site, and the second being the dating site itself. While I can understand reactions to this kind of “objectification” of men the men on display aren’t available for dating, but they are there for promotional purposes, and there isn’t much difference from regular modeling jobs. These days I’m contemplating modeling for a similar dating concept in my part of the world.
As for the website itself the discussion revolves around the concept of female empowerment. The major difference from other dating sites is that only women can initiate contact, male profiles can only reply to incoming messages. While this may seem strange at a first glance I actually think it makes sense to some extent. On regular sites women are “drowning” in messages from a variety of men, including those who trigger no interest. Men on the other hand are often frustrated about getting few replies, and a structure like this will definitely aid to improve lack of balance. And, if we are completely honest, it’s usually women who hold the best “hand of cards” in dating in general – online as well as in real life. That’s not to say that men don’t have preferences but women tend to have a more specific set of requirements, and by having this structure women won’t need to waste time on men in which they have no interest while men can be sure that each woman that contacts him is genuinely interested.