OnePlus launches and pulls sexist ‘Ladies First’ contest after Internet outrage

By Williams Pelegrin August 13, 2014

Oneplus One Press — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Currently, the only way to acquire OnePlus’ highly-coveted One smartphone is by having an invite. You can do so by getting invited from someone who already has the smartphone and by entering contests. However, OnePlus has gotten a lot of flak over its “Smash the Past” contest and the altered CE certification logo on the European One handsets. Now, the company is once again in hot water over its “Ladies First” contest.

Related: OnePlus One available for non-invitees, but with some notable differences

Exclusively for women, the contest asked women to take a picture of themselves with the OnePlus logo visible on either a piece of paper or drawn somewhere on the body, as reported by Pocketnow. The “50 most well-liked ladies” would receive an invite to purchase the One, as well as a Never Settle t-shirt. In addition, OnePlus would have sent out 100 invites at random to women participating in the contest.

Based on the contest parameters, OnePlus risked turning it essentially into a beauty pageant. Unfortunately, OnePlus dropped a “ladies, no nudity please” warning. From there, the contest thread, as well as various pockets of the Internet, was filled with people calling the contest sexist and demeaning, as well as objectifying. One fan, as seen in the picture above, flipped off the camera with the OnePlus logo and the words “don’t be sexist.”

Cyanogen, OnePlus’ software partner on the One, even tweeted that “we value all of our users and do not support any contest that objectifies people.” Likely due to the criticisms surrounding the contest, OnePlus has taken the contest thread down.

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Williams Pelegrin

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…

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