OnePlus pulled down its "Ladies First" contest for the OnePlus One smartphone after it drew negative responses from forum members for being sexist in nature.
OnePlus One poses a threat to leading smartphone giants like Samsung, Apple, LG and others. The phone maker is battling to keep up with growing demand for the high-end smartphone, so it started a contest to win an invite to purchase the $300-$350 worth OnePlus One smartphone aimed at the female demographic.
OnePlus started a ladies-only competition in which women were encouraged to participate by sharing pictures with the OnePlus logo drawn or painted on a piece of paper or on their "hand/face/wherever." The contest aimed at helping women skip the line to get a chance to purchase the OnePlus One. As it turns out, the contest did not receive a favorable response, drawing adverse comments and reviews from several forum members and news organizations, who called it inappropriate, sexist and ill-advised.
In fact, Cyanogen also expressed its outrage towards the contest, CNET reported. Cyanogen powers OnePlus One smartphones with its CyanogenMod OS.
We value all of our users and do not support any contest that objectifies people
— Cyanogen Inc. (@CyanogenInc) August 12, 2014
The contest forum page is currently offline, but the original description of the contest is available via Google's cache copy here. According to the contest rules, 50-most well-liked women will get an invite to buy the smartphone and a Never Settle t-shirt. The company also promised to give another 100 invites to random participants of the contest that was expected run through Friday.
OnePlus has since acknowledged the outright failure of the contest in its OnePlus forum and also asked for suggestions on how to bolster female involvement.
"Women make up half the world, and we want to help them be more involved in tech. We understand that our contest was in bad taste, and have therefore pulled it. All participants will be contacted for prizes," OnePlus wrote. "We apologize and we will course correct for the future. At the same time, we would love to hear your feedback on how we can better get women involved in tech."
