
So young people use Tinder, and STD rates are increasing for them… It must be Tinder’s fault!
Tinder has managed to do what many independent business merely dream of doing – taking a decade old idea, mixing it up a bit, and making insane profits from it. As the first online dating app, Tinder was of course targeted by multiple groups, including one tying its first appearance with a rise in the number of STD cases. The two groups are finally getting along, as the dating app Tinder employs STD testing locator.
The foundation that had a bone to pick with the dating app is called the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and is one of the most respectable in the community.
The whole conflict began in the fall of last year, when the AHF put up a bunch of billboards all over Los Angeles and New York, associating sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and chlamydia with Tinder.
Of course, the company behind the dating app issued a cease and desist letter to the foundation, urging them to take down the billboards.
The foundation refused to take down the billboards, stating that they are fighting a very difficult battle, and that the CDC noted that the biggest sample of the population affected by the growing number of STDs are the young people that tend to spend a lot of time on their smart phones.
It seems like quite a… let’s say old-school response for the foundation known to be one of the most respectable in the area.
Tinder and Match Group Inc, which is owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp didn’t want to get involved in a trial against the AIDS foundation, so instead they issued a statement and added a brand new feature to their website – an STD testing locator, which shows the app users where they can find a locations to get tested for STDs.
In the issued statement, the company said something along the following lines:
They acknowledged that a huge part of a relationship, formed on the internet or otherwise, is sexual health.
Despite the fact that the CDC, which conducted the most in-depth study on the matter didn’t find any link whatsoever between Tinder and increasing numbers of STDs, any efforts towards promoting healthy behaviors is very welcome.
After the new feature went up, the billboards went down, and the two groups stopped their pretty much unfounded rivalry.
Image source: Flickr