Did you hear that earlier this year the popular dating app, Tinder, released an update to ban all pictures of people holding fish on their profiles? The app became "fish-free" on April 1, 2023 due to complaints from their users saying that no one looks good holding a slimy fish.
Official Fish Banning Statement Released by Tinder
Tinder actually did release an official press release about the topic confirming its validity. Luckily for us, this announcement came out on April Fools' Day and was intended to cause a buzz in the industry and help them go viral. The trick worked as many people started to write articles about it and usage of the app increased.
They claimed that 92% of singles reported "getting the ick" from seeing people holding up fish in their profile pictures. Here at Beer Can Fishing wonder if they would have that same reaction if the profile picture had a fishing pole with a giant White Claw or Pabst Blue Ribbon hanging from the line?
“We are always listening to our members and it's clear that the ubiquitous fish pic is something that needs to be addressed on our app,” said Sal Mon, Head of Community Pictures at Tinder. “We cast a wide net out for fish pics in order to elevate our members’ experience on Tinder and remove a barrier for them to meet their match.”
The false claim wanted their users to be encouraged to get more creative with profile pictures to help users develop more genuine connections in their app. However, we would challenge that thinking and ask, "Who wouldn't instantly be attracted to someone that was able to reel in a monster?"
Keystone Light Beer Pushes Back on Tinder
The popular light beer brand, Keystone, ran a subsequent marketing campaign on National Go Fishing Day to ask their users to post fish pics and the love story of how they met. This was spot on for their target audience to help combat against the April Fools' Day hoax from Tinder. Since Keystone sells a lot of beer as well as hunting and fishing apparel to anglers, it really captured their audience in a fun way. Hopefully the fish pics wars will continue as it is fun to watch these companies get creative.