Drivers in Los Angeles already have it pretty rough — they’re driving, in Los Angeles, after all.
But now on top of the traffic, the noise and the pollution, they also have their sexual health to worry about after passing by a new billboard erected by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
And maybe that’s a good thing?
The ad’s message, which depicts two couples in silhouette with the words “Tinder,” “chlamydia,” “Grindr,” and “gonorrhea” next to the text “freestdcheck.org” couldn’t be any clearer. A rise in hook-up culture contributes to a rise in STIs.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Related: Four Men Face Felony Sex Charges After Hookup With Grindr Teen
Are these apps at fault for their users’ actions by merely existing? No, but the connection remains.
Unsurprisingly, Tinder and Grindr aren’t too happy with the characterization, and Tinder actually sent a cease and desist letter to AHF to take down the ad.
“These unprovoked and wholly unsubstantiated accusations are made to irreparably damage Tinder’s reputation in an attempt to encourage others to take an HIV test by your organization,” Tinder attorney Jonathan Reichman said in a letter to the foundation.
Related: 12 Grindr Fails To Avoid If You Actually Want To Get Lucky This Weekend
Grindr quietly (by comparison) dropped AHF as a paid advertiser, saying, “We were surprised at the approach [the foundation] took, and paused the campaign in order to speak with them and assess our relationship.”
While AHF is by no means a knight in shining armor — they’re sex-negative attitude is well-documented — is there really any harm in reminding people to check their dipsticks?
Will fewer people use Grindr and Tinder as a result of the ad? (We think not.)
Related: AIDS Healthcare Foundation Pres. Calls Truvada A “Party Drug”, Refuels Debate Over PrEP Meds
“In many ways, location-based mobile dating apps are becoming a digital bathhouse for millennials wherein the next sexual encounter can literally just be a few feet away—as well as the next STD,” Whitney Engeran-Cordova, the foundation’s public health division director, said in a statement.
If we can’t admit how these apps are being used, and encourage smart behavior, should we even have them in the first place?
Giancarlo85
The truth burns. The fact is both of these apps, along with craigslist are responsible for skyrocketing spread of STDs and HIV in the community.
Alan C Miller
Yep!
Renzo Garcia Lacherre
No it’s a fact. those apps are used by people that could potentially have an std and are passing it around .
Rob Laughlin
I actually agree with Grindr and Tinder on this one. The ad definitely implies that you are more likely to contract an STI using the app, which is not necessarily true. You can catch an STI hooking up with someone you meet at the local Starbucks. Just because someone is chatting or even looking does not mean he is reckless and spreading infection. Personal responsbility people…don’t blame an app for your choices. I’ve also seen pop up ads on the apps for HIV and STIs, which are great as reminders for people to be cautious and get tested.
Cory M. Warren
Casual sex is risky. That’s always been true.
Sidney Davies
They should sue them
Blackceo
I see no lies in the billboard ad. The fact is that HIV rates are rising among certain demographics and it needs to be talked about more. There is a sense of complacency around it now regarding that and other STIs that is worrisome. It’s already been shown to be a link between the hookup apps/sites and the rise in STIs and that’s not a judgment. Hell, get your rocks off however you want but please be safe and please get tested.
Desert Boy
Wow! Free STD checks for anyone who wants one. I think it’s great.
Daniel Franzese
Whatever it takes to educate the younger generation. New HIV infections are rising by the thousands in young people 13-24yo and 1 in 3 gay men have never been tested. Whatever. It. Takes.
tham
I wouldn’t make too much of a stink about it if I was Tinder.
John Malin
Too bad for Grindr and Tinder and anyone else creating Apps that help in the spread of STDs. It’s time everyone take the increases in STD rate seriously and get themselves checked and ask possible partners their status as well. Diseases evolve too, would hate to see a STD become drug resistant and spread like wildfire.
sportsguy1983
Because of course you could never catch a STD from hooking up with someone at a bar. Idiotic people making irresponsible decisions lead to catching STDs. Blame the sex crazed people, not the apps, with spreading diseases.
Juan Torred
Careful out there you just never know education is key. ð???
Jim Thronberry
slightly agree with grinder and tender ; ahf claims to help those with hiv wasting money on billboards def does not help those in need with hiv !
Richard Holaday
Wahhhh ð??? lol
MarionPaige
Joel Simkhai, the CEO of Grindr, LLC was asked in a tech conference why Grindr created a separate app for lesbian. Simkhai basically said: “The difference between gay men and lesbians is greater than what you might think. That it makes more sense to group gay men with straight men than to group gay men with gay women”.
I f-king love it.
All of this propaganda from Advertiser Friendly Whores pimping this “women and gay men demographic” and the idea that what appeals to women will automatically attract gay men and, here you have a company that makes it money by providing a service to actual gay men saying gay men aren’t women
MarionPaige
https://youtu.be/VB4w6lD5FHc
Finrod
More slut-shaming from neo-Puritans. You don’t get STDs from sleeping around; you get them from practicing unsafe sex. This message encourages unsafe behavior because it perpetuates the delusion that sleeping with fewer people or sleeping with people whom you know somehow makes you immune. In medical care, you presume that every patient is infectious and take appropriate precautions. Sex doesn’t kill; assumptions kill.
QJ201
Perhaps Grindr and Tindr should include a “safer sex” practices with the stats.
On hookup WEBSITES, this options exists.
Can’t tell how many times I’ve been asked to bareback or party on Grindr, NEXT!
DarkZephyr
@Sidney Davies: No they shouldn’t. The ad just warns people to be careful and using apps like Grindr and Tinder is a good time to start being very careful.
aliengod
The ad seems perfectly appropriate to me.
@Finrod: What a completely ignorant statement. All of it.
Jorge Antonio Coronel
STDs are everywhere and to blame these site for peoples choises is stupid.
Avery Alvarez
I don’t see what the problem is.
The message is one every sexually active person should hear.
“Play safe”
“Have fun but be responsible”
Even though it’s aimed at people who use these dating apps, they did not add the caveat “this only applies for dating apps, when you’re at bars, f@ck irresponsibly”, so I’m not sure why some are complaining about that.
jantheman4903
in 90s i went through a stage of lots of semianonymous sex. choices were bathroom gloryholes,bathroom sex,bookstore gloryholes or sex,sex in parks,sex in truckstops,sex at 3am after last bar. and i was a lab professional doing those tests….saw a LOT of it. its just a different gloryhole. never used it but it sounds better n safer actually. plus u may just fall asleep looking.
Franklin
The difference between grindr and a glory hole is you have to find a glory hole and drive to it in order to look for sex. You have Grindr with you everywhere you go. It’s at home, at work, on vacation, even in the gay bar. You never have to stop looking. It makes sex more accessible than it’s been in a long time.
Will Gore
No, it’s being honest
Bisexual-Transwoman
too funny.
Finrod
@aliengod: “@Finrod: What a completely ignorant statement. All of it.”
Well that’s an articulate rebuttal. Maybe you should go into politics. I worked in health care for twenty years. In San Francisco. During the AIDS crisis.
Most of my friends died. And a lot of the bad things that happened in those days happened because of bad information. Did you have anything intelligible to add? Because your last comment was on a par with, “I know you are but what am I?”
Michael Martinez
I have yet to see a condom ad on one of those apps. Lots of stuff for porn but not so much safe sex reminders. It is logical to remind people who may have a case of the hook up hornies to use a condom. You only have to look at states where Planned Parenthood has been defunded or curtailed to see the uptick in unwanted pregnancies, STD’s and HIV/AIDS increases.
Giancarlo85
@Finrod: *yawn* Do you actually read the crap you write on here? Who are being puritian for actually talking about exercising caution and moderation? Safe sex isn’t 100% and accidents can happen… so yes there is always a chance. Nobody is slut shaming. Learn how to read.
Robin Sinn
An ad created by a high schooler? Genius.
Bisexual-Transwoman
@Finrod: It’s not slut shaming. Most people who sleep with a lot of people do wind up getting common STDs like herpes or HPV even if they do use condoms or other STDs from oral sex, or they wind up slipping up and having unprotected sex and wind up HIV+.
Finrod
@Bisexual-Transwoman: Yeah, it is slut shaming. Most Queerty commenters are just Mike Huckabee with an Abercrombie & Fitch discount card. The attitude in these comment threads is that it’s okay to be gay as long as you act like a bourgeois, babbitty, middle class, middle American, consumer droid. Fall outside those parameters and you can just crawl back into the closet.
I never really believed how anti-trans the gay male community was until I started reading the narrow-minded garbage that people post in these comments. Every article about a woman is filled with comments using ‘c*nt’ and ‘b*tch’. The anti-sex bias is particularly appalling given that those of us who pioneered this struggle in the 60s and 70s did so because we wanted the right to f*ck, not the right to show up as little qu*er nuclear families in TV commercials.
*edi ted as I appar ently trig gered the fil ter.
Calebspapi
First, they had no legal right to mention those two companies by name. Second, why does a CEO of an HIV org, who makes hundreds of thousands a year in salary (over 300k), and has conducted a full on assault against PREP and gay porn make these general claims without facts. This guy wants guys to become poz because that is how he makes his money.
People contract STDS from various meeting places. No study has proven apps more or less responsible. AIDS was a major issue long before the invention of the internet. And having more partners does not make you more susceptible to infection. Many contract STDS from one partner, and the average guy becomes infected while in a relationship. If you disagree, cite your sources and not just your fables.
Tracy Pope
A billboard reminding people to get tested (for free, no less) in and of itself isn’t the issue. The issue is AHF has some weird sense of self-importance and a very obvious disdain for anyone whose sexual practices are proscribed by AHF. Everything they do and say sounds much the same as the crazy cons and their efforts “for the children” or “for the family”. It is very off-putting.
Alex Charles
Hornet is the only hook up app I have seen that allows you add your ‘status’ including a date of your last test. It then reminds you when your next test is due. An excellent feature that should be adopted by them all.
Brian
Grindr is certainly not representative of male-male sexuality. It is a means of meeting others, usually for quickie sex. There is no dignity in this sort of activity in my opinion.
Go away, Grindr.
Kieru
So AHF reminding people of the risks of casual hookups… sure, that’s a great thing.
AHF reminding them by referencing specific hookup apps via illegal use of their trademarked logos? Completely inappropriate and unprofessional. AHF can’t hide behind fair use or parody here… they misappropriated those logos without permission and Grindr and Tinder are going to have a pretty easy case against them to force the board to come down.
goofyjoemoore
I think this falls under intellectual property. AHF should not be able to use any other company’s IP in order to push their own agenda/product, not without permission at least. For that reason alone, this should be taken down.
The sad fact, too, is these diseases have been around longer than those two apps. Why focus on them? Why not list vaseline ally or one of the bars or any other place guys have hooked up?
Bisexual-Transwoman
@Finrod: A lot of people here are also biphobic or against bisexual people as well.
Arnold Stollar
Much ado about little?
Creig Stearne
Truth hurts bitches!
Tom Pleviak
Sigh… In fairness, hooking up with someone on Tinder or Grindr doesn’t automatically give you STI’s. It’s not like smoking cigarettes and cancer; there’s not a direct correlation. People should be encouraged to be responsible, of course, but I can kind of see where they’re coming from being upset about this. I’m not a big fan of hook-up apps in general, but let’s be fair.
JerseyMike
How are they and we going to blame adults for having random sex.. STD s where here before Grinder, Tinder or Craigslist and they will be here long after they are gone. If I get an STD I can’t blame anything or anyone other than myself.. Its always someone elses fault.. I have had a couple in my old age and I can’t blame anyone other than self unless you are in a committed relationship.. then its time to kick some azz…
Geeker
I guess the truth hurts their bottom line.
Brian Johnson-Frazier
Well don’t be the leading cause of the spread of STDs.
chillthehellout
Regardless of what any study is blaming for being the greatest contributing factor this month, the message should be geared towards every man, woman, transgendered individuals who are engaging in high risk sexual behaviours. Many of those people have probably never used Grindr or tinder so are they feeling falsely reassured that their not at a just a great if risk if they only hook up with random people at bars, parties, or on Christian Mingle? I completely agree with increased awareness one education but not in a form that targets 2 rather large yet specific groups of people. Take the advertisements out of these public health awareness campaigns and encourage everyone engaging in any type of risky behaviour to talk to their Dr, educate themselves, and quit looking to blame particular communities for everybody’s own personal decisions. While we’re at it lets have separate washrooms, water fountains, churches and seating arrangements on public transit. Give me a fucking break.
chillthehellout
@Kieru: well put my friend. It just clearly points the finger of blame and a fairly specific groups of people. Maybe Facebook is to blame too hey. All those office workers with too much free time hooking up in bathroom stalls. I’m kidding of course