Mark Higginson

Manifesto
How attention flows on the web

 

01 April 2014

Business is political

OkCupid have weighed in on the Brendan Eich gay marriage issue by inserting a splash screen for Firefox users actively dissuading them from using this browser to access their website.

OkCupid Firefox splash screen

You could argue this is a fantastic piece of marketing by OkCupid. Their business is inclusivity and here they get to underline their values in opposition to those of Mozilla’s CEO. That said, I’m interested to know what the drop-off rate is for Firefox users clicking away from OkCupid as a result.

This stance is interesting as pretty much all businesses maintain an apolitical veneer. This is of course completely disingenuous as being in business is a political act, framed by and contributing to the dominant discourse.

Let me know what you think on Twitter