Dive Brief:
- An attractive young woman named Ava is causing quite a stir on Tinder at the SXSW festival this week.
- Users who swiped right on Ava's photo were pulled into a messaging conversation and were asked questions like "Have you ever been in love?" and "What makes you human?"
- The photo was of Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, who plays a sentient robot in the new movie "Ex Machina." Tinder users who swiped right on Ava were eventually directed to the Instagram account @meetava that revealed it was all a stunt.
Dive Insight:
On some level, this was a successful buzzed-about marketing ploy to grab attention from an app that everyone seems to be using. On the flip-side, this could be interpreted as a manipulative ploy to get attention for the sci-fi film. Many Tinder users reported realizing immediately that Ava was not human, but some were slower to discover the truth, and said they had their emotions hurt by the stunt.
