An Ugly Affair

The Guardian online (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/20/shrek-virus-beautiful-people?INTCMP=SRCH) reported today that due to a software malfunction nicknamed Shrek, 30,000 ugly people managed to join the dating website Beautiful People. Normally all applicants to Beautiful People are vetted by a panel of already Beautiful People and, if they are ugly, they are not allowed to join. But due to a "disgruntled former employee", ugly people managed somehow to join. Luckily, the mistake was caught on time and now the uglies have been thrown out and the Universe is whole again.

Some are saying that Shrek is a stunt, although Beautiful People deny it. Golden Goose PR looks after Beautiful People, and in 2009 they arranged for Beautiful People to expel 5,000 members for getting fat over Christmas. The campaign was called Festive Fatties. The result of Festive Fatties was that 48,000 idiots applied to Beautiful People within 24 hours, and Golden Goose won best global public relations campaign at the CIPR Excellence Awards in 2010.


Now the most obvious question is: why would anyone want to joint an elite club and risk the heartbreak of being rejected? To me, it sounds like a masochistic attempt to relive the painful episode of one's youth where one was not allowed to sit at the Cool Table, or hang out with the Popular Kids, or join the cheerleaders or the top fraternities/sororities, etc.. Apparently, the rewards are worth it. Members of BeautifulPeople.com enjoy:

- Glamorous parties and a jet set global network
- Access to the most beautiful people locally and from around the
world
- Approaches by leading film and TV companies
- Potential contracts from top modeling agencies
- Extended professional networks, through partnerships between
BeautifulPeople.com and leading businesses.