sex

Ashley Madison tries to clean up its image with new TV ads that romanticise cheating rather well.

 

Cheating website Ashley Madison has launched a new ad campaign in a bid to clean up its shot reputation after last year’s massive data breach.

You might recall that the company took a huge hit when the private information of many of its 37 million members was leaked online. When you’re in the business of selling infidelity to mostly married people, this hack was never going to end well.

Not only did it wreak havoc in households around the world, the CEO of parent company Avid Life Media stepped down and police linked at least two suicides to the incident.

But the brand is now attempting to claw back whatever stature a service that encourages people to cheat on their significant others can have. And while it’s hard to condone what they’re doing, you’ve got to give them an A for effort. The adverts aren’t bad.

Gone is the tagline: “Life is short, have an affair”. Instead we have: “Find your moment.”

The parent company has also got a feminine new name, Ruby Life. But Ashley Madison is keeping its name for recognition purposes.

New CEO Rob Segal told TechCrunch they had worked to beef up security and were now trying to win back trust and attract a new, broader spectrum of people. This is code for more than just cheating husbands, because as you may remember, the hackers revealed a paltry 5-10 per cent of members were women.

“We want to be more inclusive and especially more female-friendly,” Mr Segal said.

“We are hoping the rebrand may be appealing to others who have never had an interest in Ashley Madison in the past.”

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The glossy new TV ads, to be launched globally, have a melancholic feel to get you questioning your relationship satisfaction. Oh you’re NOT on cloud nine 24/7? You and your partner AREN’T swinging from chandeliers?

Well, Ashley Madison reckon they have the perfect remedy for your situation.

And their campaign attempts to prove this by showing downtrodden people ~find their moment~.

Basically, it depicts a highly romanticised version of cheating.

The first ad features an ultra sad couple, where the woman ends up having fiery eye sex with a silver-fox as she checks into a hotel on a work conference.

Another shows a miserable man, presumably single, whose mundane day gets 100 times better when he and a woman gaze flirtatiously at each other on the train home.

The third, interestingly, indicates that Ashley Madison is also trying to appeal to couples curious about opening up their relationship. It features a couple clearly bored with one another managing to rediscover a spark when they both catch eye of an attractive waitress. Right-o.

The ads are set to rather lovely indie rock tracks and they are certainly nicely shot. But whether pretty pictures and lovey-dovey songs are enough to entice people, and especially women, to the embattled site — well, time will tell.