OnePlus is making things worse for themselves, and driving away potential customers, with a new contest they announced today called “Ladies First”. The contest is only for ladies, which isn’t necessarily a problem. Sexism and misogyny run rampant through the tech industry. I would be happy to see a ladies’ contest based on something other than photos of women. This contest feeds into the very garbage that we’re trying to flush out. Here’s the wording of the contest, direct from the OnePlus forums.
“Ladies (and only ladies, sorry guys, ladies first), the rules are simple:
- Draw the OnePlus logo on a piece of paper or on your hand/face/wherever (so we know it’s really you)
- Take a photo of yourself with the OnePlus logo clearly visible
- Post the photo in this thread
The 50 most well-liked ladies will receive an invite and a Never Settle t-shirt. Additionally, we will be giving out another 100 invites at random to any lady who participates in the contest. The contest begins today and ends on Friday. We will announce the winners on Monday.
Ladies, no nudity please.
Bonus: If we receive 500 entries, we will give 1 OnePlus One Sandstone Black 64GB edition to whoever (from 1 of 16 launch countries) takes our favorite photo.”
There are several things that are really, absolutely wrong about this contest. First, the contest insinuates (hand/face/wherever) that ladies should write the company logo in a revealing place on their body. It assumes that ladies are begging to get naked for a phone and the only way to stop them is with a polite request to keep their clothes on. To top it off, the contest is not a random drawing, but a subjective winner will be picked based on “our favorite photo.”
OnePlus already knows that they have few women interested in the One. The bonus device giveaway will only happen if 500 women participate in the contest. Out of the tens of thousands of forum members, OnePlus is hoping to get 500 of them to participate in this disgusting display.
Previous OnePlus contests have been built around when you signed up for their forums, and on random drawings. This “Ladies First” contest is based on a team of mostly men, looking at pictures of women, to decide who wins. This forum member hit the nail on the head.
Update: OnePlus has deleted their contest thread.