Online bingo - a woman’s world?
Recently marketing for online bingo has taking a dramatic turn for the worst. In my opinion anyway. Most of the major online bingo operators have subtly but not aversely aimed their marketing at a female audience. This was evident when Bingos.co.uk brought in Kerry Katona as the figurehead of their marketing campaign. Other high name bingo operators followed suit with FoxyBingo.com, for example, enlisting Katie Price (aka Jordan) and the WAGS of famous footballers to help in their marketing campaigns.
I personally had no problem with this. The adverts were tasteful, and did not make men feel at all excluded from the bingo experience. The recent stream of marketing for various bingo operators is different entirely. Some operators have given themselves feminine names, while many have decided on very feminine colour schemes and graphics.
As a man that loves playing bingo I am a little perturbed by this, it seams as if the large bingo operators, who do have the money and marketing power to impact on public perception, are emasculating the game. Certain bingo websites make me feel wrong for playing on them. It feels like I’ve accidentally walked into a ladies changing room, or stumbled upon a meeting of the women’s institute.
Luckily there are a few websites that haven’t succumbed to this kind of gender biased marketing namely, BingoFriends and BingoJoy, which encourage balanced and inclusive bingo communities. I for one will be sticking to these websites for the time being.
Please let me know how you feel… are you a woman that enjoys the female orientated sites? Are you a man feeling turned off bingo by the new marketing campaigns? Please leave your comments.
