Searching for that special someone on dating websites sometimes feels like browsing an online shopping catalogue. A recent website, Supermanket, takes this analogy a step further by listing men as products that women can look at and buy.Searching for that special someone on dating websites sometimes feels like browsing an online shopping catalogue. A recent website, Supermanket, takes this analogy a step further by listing men as products that women can look at and buy.
The idea is simple really. If you are a guy, you make an account to the site listing yourself as a product. You describe your attributes, which are labeled as flavor (such as artist, executive or gamer), packaging (like otaku, gothic or casual for example) and bonus pack (choosing from romantic, smoker to jack of all trades). If you are a woman, you make an account as a client and apart from stating some basic information (like a date of birth and your country of origin) you don’t need to worry about much else. You can then browse through the site for any “products” you may like and choose to “purchase” them. No actual money is being exchanged though. Choosing to “buy” one of the men means sending them a message with your details, so they can decide if they want to get back to you.
Supermanket was initially launched in Chile two months ago, where so far it has acquired 5,000 users according to Mashable. In this first version, the success rate, according to the same source, is about 45% (success in this case being getting a response from the guy you are trying to “buy”). As the numbers seemed promising, more versions followed; with the most recent one launched in the United States last week.
Supermanket co-founder Tadashi Takaoka told Mashable they were aware that “women were tired of being harassed on dating sites.” Admittedly, Supermanket could help women avoid harassment, a common problem on dating websites. Giving women the power to choose who they want to be in contact with, allows them to avoid some of the negative sides of online dating.
But setting up a dating service that caters to women more than to men was also a move based on women’s shopping habits. As Takaoka explains in the same interview: “87% of things that are bought in the world, are bought by women. So, we thought that if shopping was fun for them, shopping men was the best idea ever.”
Even considering that maybe this is all just a clever way to create more hype about their service and stand out in the crowded market of online dating, I still find Supermanket disturbing. Firstly, I am a bit offended by the simplistic notion of “women like shopping, so they must find shopping for men fun.” As a woman, I would like to think finding a partner is more complicated that buying a new sweater and that this process does not follow the same principles. Secondly, both women and men are so often treated as objects, available for public consumption, that I do not really think we need another service objectifying people (even if the creators may have thought they were being cute). Not to mention the obvious reference to a slave market.
Of course, the website could be using the supermarket analogy to comment on the issue of objectifying both men and women, but I honestly do not think they are. This mostly seems like a trick to attract attention in a highly competitive market. At least, everyone participating is doing so voluntarily.
originally published at EngagementDesign.co