Too pretty to be a web developer? LinkedIn thinks so, pulls ads
Posted by: Jon Ben-Mayor on 08/05/2013 12:26 PM
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LinkedIn has landed in some hot water after they pulled an ad placed by Toptal featuring images of Argentinian web developer Florencia Antara; citing the developer was 'too pretty’ to be an actual web developer.
The social media platform then issued a request for ‘images related to the product’ but then blocked the ads until the image of Argentinian web developer Florencia Antara had been removed.
Commenting on the episode TopTal CEO Taso Du Val wrote: “Today was a disappointing day at TopTal. We saw extreme sexism within the tech community, from an industry leader and advertising partner that we work with quite extensively: LinkedIn. “The fact of the matter is: members of the tech community (LinkedIn users) saw it as impossible that our female engineers could actually be engineers, and a leader of the tech community (LinkedIn) agreed with them. “Unfortunately we're banned from showing anything except 100 percent, all make software advertisements from now on and so, that's what you'll be getting.”
In response, a spokesperson for LinkedIn, which bills itself as the 'World's Largest Professional Network', told the Daily Mail that the ads were rejected in a mistake caused by a review at their customer service team.
'While Customer Service was going through a standard process of reviewing LinkedIn Ads, TopTal's ads were rejected in error. We have taken the necessary measures to approve the previously rejected ads, and TopTal can now run them on our platform as intended.'
However, the initial decision by LinkedIn provoked a furious response from readers of Du Val's blog.
'LinkedIn appears to be engaging in slut-shaming ,and nerd oppression because no female engineer could look good. Engineers must be slide rule nerds,' wrote one reader in support of Du Val.
Toptal also used an image of actress Amanda Schull; who is an American actress and former professional ballet dancer to represent their female engineers - which they later deleted
However, the issue became complicated when it was pointed out that Toptal did not use actual images of every engineer they were advertising.
Regardless, many commentators were sided with LinkedIn, despite criticizing the web giant for blocking the ads.
Some said that the issue was more of false representation by Toptal and pointed out that the ads gave off a 'spam' vibe.
The social media platform then issued a request for ‘images related to the product’ but then blocked the ads until the image of Argentinian web developer Florencia Antara had been removed.Commenting on the episode TopTal CEO Taso Du Val wrote: “Today was a disappointing day at TopTal. We saw extreme sexism within the tech community, from an industry leader and advertising partner that we work with quite extensively: LinkedIn. “The fact of the matter is: members of the tech community (LinkedIn users) saw it as impossible that our female engineers could actually be engineers, and a leader of the tech community (LinkedIn) agreed with them. “Unfortunately we're banned from showing anything except 100 percent, all make software advertisements from now on and so, that's what you'll be getting.”
In response, a spokesperson for LinkedIn, which bills itself as the 'World's Largest Professional Network', told the Daily Mail that the ads were rejected in a mistake caused by a review at their customer service team.
'While Customer Service was going through a standard process of reviewing LinkedIn Ads, TopTal's ads were rejected in error. We have taken the necessary measures to approve the previously rejected ads, and TopTal can now run them on our platform as intended.'
However, the initial decision by LinkedIn provoked a furious response from readers of Du Val's blog.
'LinkedIn appears to be engaging in slut-shaming ,and nerd oppression because no female engineer could look good. Engineers must be slide rule nerds,' wrote one reader in support of Du Val.
Toptal also used an image of actress Amanda Schull; who is an American actress and former professional ballet dancer to represent their female engineers - which they later deleted
However, the issue became complicated when it was pointed out that Toptal did not use actual images of every engineer they were advertising.
Regardless, many commentators were sided with LinkedIn, despite criticizing the web giant for blocking the ads.
Some said that the issue was more of false representation by Toptal and pointed out that the ads gave off a 'spam' vibe.
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