The most blatant use of sex to launch a startup ever? Probably.

9 Comments

by Mike Butcher on February 23, 2009

Social travel match engine Gekko has yet to even launch. But it’s seeding it’s emergence with a viral video which leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination.

Gekko’s “Findyourgspots.com” promo says the service will match you with hotels and restaurants based on your profile and like minded people. So far, so similar. There are almost certainly a number of other sites that claim to do the same thing, to a greater or lesser extent.

However, will we actually remember what Gekko does after seeing its ads? I rather doubt it. If they are going to head down this route then they should at least have a version with a guy in it as well, to balance things out, right?

Comments

CPB - February 23rd, 2009 at 12:52 pm CST

What the heck? This should be rated XXX.. Parents don’t let your children access or watch this video.. But i like it..

Girl with a one track mind - February 23rd, 2009 at 12:54 pm CST

The most boring use of female sexuality, for sure – and I’m no prude: I like sexual imagery just fine, thanks.

But I always ask why the creators of campaigns like this never substitute males in the female roles, and the answer, usually, is that men don’t want to watch other men appearing sexual or sexualised, thus reinforcing that the expected viewer of this ad will be male.

I can’t be arsed to go into all the reasons that’s offensive to women, but really, this ad is just dull. Doesn’t sell me the product, and since my gender makes up >50% of the population, I’d call that one big marketing FAIL.

Pascal - February 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm CST

This is just bad. Unfortunately it’s not even funny…

Alex Bainbridge - February 23rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm CST

Couple of things

1) There is already a well established travel planning site called GeckoGo.com
http://www.geckogo.com/
Having two travel planning sites with very similar names may cause some brand confusion in the future?

2) I am not a prude – but the travel industry is a global industry. Many of the mid-haul destinations from the UK are the middle east. This kind of video may not travel outside of Europe that well……

Alex

Lloyd Davis - February 23rd, 2009 at 7:02 pm CST

OK, so aside from the pointless vapidity and inappropriate imagery of the ad, why was all of this going on in the middle of St Thomas’s Hospital???? (sorry, you may have to watch through to the end to see what I’m talking about)

Ryan Haugarth - February 23rd, 2009 at 11:14 pm CST

This has no chance at having any viral success… a little heavy breathing… common i rarely spend a hour online w/o coming across more provocative content.