Tinder Shocker: Swipe Right And They’ll Take Your Kidney

tinderorgan

Tinder is running a campaign to promote organ donation. And no, not that one you mucky pups.

The campaign is being run with the National Health Service in the UK. It aims to tackle the problem that the number of people who say they’d be happy to donate organs after their death is much greater than the number who’ve actually signed up to a national register to do so.

While Wales has an “opt-out” system, the rest of the UK uses an opt-in system. That means that when somebody dies, their organs are only used if they are on the register or if a close friend or family member gives permission. As of last week, 6,638 people in the UK are waiting for an organ transplant.

The Tinder campaign involves adding profiles for celebrity participants including Olympic athlete Jade Jones and actors Gemma Oaten and Jamie Lang. It appears these will be ‘artificially’ placed among lists of possible matches, rather than being organic (so to speak) matches that depend on location settings. The profile will also have a special line saying the celebrity is on the donor register.

If a user swipes right, they won’t actually have the chance of getting a date with the celebrity. Instead they’ll see a message reading “If only it was that easy for those in need of a life saving organ to find a match” and then be given an opportunity to sign up directly from the app.

Though clearly a promotional gimmick, the idea is to both raise awareness (through the app and accompanying media coverage) and increase sign-ups. It’s aimed particularly at users aged 18-35 who may be naturally less likely to think about what happens after their death than older people.

The campaign follows a Tinder partnership with Amnesty International last year when the app inserted “profile pictures” which contained messages comparing the choice available to users with the lack of control for women around the world in forced marriages.