After a night of debauchery on my birthday (including playing guitar with the blues band at the Bronze Boar - thanks for stealing that guy's guitar Abi!), I decided to opt for a tamer night and stay in. While listening to some relaxing indie tunes and shopping online for tickets to Chicago, I stumbled upon several ads for the website Match.com. Match.com has always been rather cavalier in their TV ads by telling us that "it's okay to look" because really they have no idea. For instance, if you are married, I would say that it's not okay to look. Although, I do think it's a fair assumption for Match.com to think I am single and looking because that could be a pretty big chunk of the population. However, their online ads are getting eerily specific.
For example:
They somehow managed to figure out that I am a girl seeking a guy, that I like being around intellectual people, and that I have an interest in medicine. It's not a far fetched assumption to make if they have some sort of cookie that tracks me searching both MDConsult for medical information and Nordstroms for pretty shoes. Always in the mood to conduct experiments, I refreshed the page with the ad to see what different people they would use to lure me to their site. Three out of six times, the doctor showed up. Two out of six times, the intellectual guy showed up. And only lowly time, an athletic guy showed up. I'm not a very good target for these ads because I somehow doubt that their are groups of dashingly good looking doctors, intellectual guys, and/or athletes just waiting for a sassy young med student to online date them. I also find the model terribly annoying. In his doctor act, he's trying to come off with a look that says, "I save lives all day long, and I'm making all this money that I don't know what to do with. I need a special lady to come home to at night. And if you're wondering, my life really is like Grey's Anatomy - you can call me McSexy." For some reason, I think an actual doctor at the age of this model would be saying, "I work all day long, and then I study, so I won't have that much time to spend with you. I'll try to hang out with you when I can. If you call me McAnything, I might throw up all over myself."
I can only wonder what guys see when their tailored match.com advertisements pop up. Are their lured by single female doctors? Does a guy with an interest in medicine see an attractive girl wearing nerdy glasses and dressed in scrubs? I somehow doubt it because as most girls in med school know, it's not a good idea to mention you're in medical school to a guy you've just met. I've actually used it before as a very effective method to deter unwanted attention from a creepy guy. When I fly home, I read JAMA or New Physician on the plane. The reasons I do this are two fold: 1- I will only attract the attention of those un-intimidated by a smart girl, and will otherwise be left alone by the many strangers on the plane, and 2 - Adults will think I'm older than fourteen, or at least a child genius akin to Doogie Howser.
I find it rather creepy that you can go on a website, design a perfect mate, and see if it matches with the reality of anybody in your area. I feel a connection made between a doctor and a girl that goes to a website looking exclusively for doctors would be terribly superficial. Although on the opposite end of the spectrum, I am really annoyed by the t-shirts worn at school that say "Be the doctor your mother always wanted you to marry." I know that it's all for female empowerment or whatever, but it implies that if a girl marries a doctor instead of being one that she's somehow failed. I suppose I'm may be easily annoyed, and I'm just not ready for the world of online dating or its ads.
--by Farrah, who is fascinated by the $1 bus rides from megabus
For example:
They somehow managed to figure out that I am a girl seeking a guy, that I like being around intellectual people, and that I have an interest in medicine. It's not a far fetched assumption to make if they have some sort of cookie that tracks me searching both MDConsult for medical information and Nordstroms for pretty shoes. Always in the mood to conduct experiments, I refreshed the page with the ad to see what different people they would use to lure me to their site. Three out of six times, the doctor showed up. Two out of six times, the intellectual guy showed up. And only lowly time, an athletic guy showed up. I'm not a very good target for these ads because I somehow doubt that their are groups of dashingly good looking doctors, intellectual guys, and/or athletes just waiting for a sassy young med student to online date them. I also find the model terribly annoying. In his doctor act, he's trying to come off with a look that says, "I save lives all day long, and I'm making all this money that I don't know what to do with. I need a special lady to come home to at night. And if you're wondering, my life really is like Grey's Anatomy - you can call me McSexy." For some reason, I think an actual doctor at the age of this model would be saying, "I work all day long, and then I study, so I won't have that much time to spend with you. I'll try to hang out with you when I can. If you call me McAnything, I might throw up all over myself."
I can only wonder what guys see when their tailored match.com advertisements pop up. Are their lured by single female doctors? Does a guy with an interest in medicine see an attractive girl wearing nerdy glasses and dressed in scrubs? I somehow doubt it because as most girls in med school know, it's not a good idea to mention you're in medical school to a guy you've just met. I've actually used it before as a very effective method to deter unwanted attention from a creepy guy. When I fly home, I read JAMA or New Physician on the plane. The reasons I do this are two fold: 1- I will only attract the attention of those un-intimidated by a smart girl, and will otherwise be left alone by the many strangers on the plane, and 2 - Adults will think I'm older than fourteen, or at least a child genius akin to Doogie Howser.
I find it rather creepy that you can go on a website, design a perfect mate, and see if it matches with the reality of anybody in your area. I feel a connection made between a doctor and a girl that goes to a website looking exclusively for doctors would be terribly superficial. Although on the opposite end of the spectrum, I am really annoyed by the t-shirts worn at school that say "Be the doctor your mother always wanted you to marry." I know that it's all for female empowerment or whatever, but it implies that if a girl marries a doctor instead of being one that she's somehow failed. I suppose I'm may be easily annoyed, and I'm just not ready for the world of online dating or its ads.
--by Farrah, who is fascinated by the $1 bus rides from megabus
3 comments:
This is the best blog EVER! You should be a scientist not of the chemistry/biology variety, but of the cultural/social variety. You could be the Nikolai Tesla of medical school students seeking mates (sorry, just watched the Prestige and was riveted by David Bowie). xoxo
I can try to make better ads for match dot com?
Also, megabus is awesome!
brilliant!
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