I have freckles – and Match.com’s new Tube ad is total nonsense

This week, Match.com revealed another one of their “if you don’t love your imperfections, someone else will” adverts across Tube stations in London. Usually these adverts feature weird quirks or habits people have, that they might not necessarily like, but that someone they meet on Match.com will.

However, they really fucked up this week when they released a new poster that featured a red-haired girl with a face full of freckles.

Redheads across the UK kicked off at them on social media, and Match.com issued this statement:

“We have taken note of the response about our advert concerning freckles. Following this feedback, we are in discussions with our relevant partners about removing these posters as soon as possible.

“We believe freckles are beautiful. The intention of our ‘Love Your Imperfections’ campaign is to focus on the quirks and idiosyncrasies that people wrongly perceive to be imperfections – this can include freckles, a feature that is sometimes seen as an imperfection by people who have them.

“We’re sorry if this ad has been interpreted in a different way and we apologise for any offence caused, this was not our intention.”

It all sounds like a load of BS to me. I don’t understand how anyone could sit around a table in a board room and say “right come on guys, let’s think of some imperfections for the next ad campaign – I know, a redhead with freckles”.

It really worries me what kind of a message this is putting out to freckly girls. I remember what kids are like in school – they’re pretty savage. As a society we’ve been conditioned to bully the redheads with songs about going back to your biscuit tin, or South Park episodes telling us we don’t have souls.

I used to spend ages trying to justify myself, saying that “I’m not that ginger, I haven’t got that many freckles”, which really isn’t OK. Imagine being a ten year old girl and walking past that ad that looks just like you, and thinking, “oh, shit, these are imperfections are they?”

If this ad had been rolled out in the early years of my secondary school life, I would have been so knocked by it. Now, I like my red hair and freckles, and if I’m supposed to see that as an imperfection or something I should feel ashamed of that a partner will come along and make right for me – then quite frankly, you can fuck off, Match.com.