It's always a good idea to get more women involved in tech. Unfortunately for OnePlus, its "misguided" effort drew more flak. Yes, probably more women know about the brand now. But no, they're probably not raring for an invite to get a One.
OnePlus is having production issues so its One smartphone is only available at the moment by invite. It makes a lot of sense then to offer an invite as a prize in a contest, one that the company is throwing for having reached a milestone of 200,000 registered forum users. This contest, called "Ladies First," is just like any other contest that has a set of mechanics to guide the process. However, it is in these mechanics that OnePlus had a problem.
The "Ladies First" contest is simple. As its name implies, the contest is only open to women. Why just women? Because OnePlus endeavors to attract more women to participate not only in the company's forums but to take an interest in tech in general. Sounds great? Yes. What's the problem then? The rest of the mechanics appeared sexist to majority of people on the internet.
To participate in the contest, women have to draw the OnePlus logo on a sheet of paper or any part of their body. They have to take a photo of themselves, make sure that the OnePlus logo is clearly seen in the photo and then post said photo in the contest's forum thread.
The 50 most liked photos will receive an invite to buy the One smartphone and a Never Settle t-shirt. Another 100 invites will be randomly raffled off as well to the all the ladies who participated in the contest. If "Ladies First" receives a minimum of 500 entries, a OnePlus One Sandstone Black 64GB edition smartphone will be given to the staff's favorite photo.
What's the problem then? The contest apparently assumed that OnePlus was such a coveted brand that women will be scrambling to join, throwing themselves at the mercy of a male-dominated forum just to be able to get a chance at buying a One smartphone. It even warned against nudity, again assuming that the ladies would go to such lengths just to get an invite. And this did not sit well with a lot of people.
The contest has since been deleted and the company issued a statement. "The 'Ladies First' contest was a very misguided effort by a few isolated employees to do just that, however there is no question the post not only failed to better include our female community but actually perpetuated a stereotype that OnePlus in no way supports or condones. We deeply regret any offense caused by this contest," it clarified.
