• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, March 7, 2024

By drilling down on no-nos for online-dating profile photos, Whirlpool USA, the washer-dryer and kitchen appliance maker, has conducted a pretty hilarious social media experiment for men.

The outcomes of just such an alternative “spring cleaning” are on Instagram and TikTok.

Yes, they’re talking to you, proud big-fish-holder-upper, flexing bathroom-gym-selfie-taker, and those dudes who invite future partners to feast their eyes upon their Mitsubishi.

Whether red flags or not, these dating site pictorial standard-bearers have become such cliches that they’ve launched social media memes of their own. The image of a bare-chested man holding a fish, for example, has become such an everyday visual that for an April Fool’s Day spoof, Tinder banned all fish pictures from the site.

In a recent survey, Whirlpool instead discovered what will really “catch fish,” as the press release put it.

“What emerged is that equity around house chores is a top priority for people seeking partnerships (94%) and having profile photos showing your propensity for sharing these responsibilities at home is attractive.”

Translation: Women love men who do laundry and dishes.

Those domestic activities reflect a responsible and caring human being, and don’t we all crave that, regardless of what else we're looking for in a partner?

In addition, Whirlpool reveals that “64% of single, online daters prefer photos of a potential match cooking a meal over working out at the gym.”

In making Care Profiles, the company recruited “seven bachelors in the Chicago area” to participate in this different kind of clean-up.

The entertaining doc shows the questionable pics that these guys insist on defending, including the dude who says that he thought the photo showing him standing in front of his car “nicely complemented the outfit that I had on,” while another guy explained that though he was pictured as a black dot on a soccer field, he did later kick the ball into the goal.

Each participant agreed to exchange those basic offenders for pics that show them completing chores around the house, including cooking, doing laundry, and cleaning.

Of course, Whirlpool’s professional production team manages to make the act of loading a dishwasher, holding a laundry basket, or standing over a frying pan look hot and appealing, which isn’t easy. Especially if you’re trying to take a selfie.

The results of the new photos?  “Compared to a three-week timespan before the experiment, the bachelors saw on average 79% more DM's, 46% more matches and 100% more connections. Furthermore, four of the seven participants are now in a relationship.” 

That’s impressive, considering how fraught the online dating experience tends to be. There are numerous reality dating shows that attest to the degree of difficulty. Anyone who has seen “Love is Blind” -- where contestants get to know each other by speaking through a blank wall, and thus profess to fall in love -- understands that the wooing process might involve some lying.  

But this “social media experiment” is an engaging and almost no-cost way for Whirlpool (which also owns KitchenAid) to dip into the online dating scene with helpful tips to men about life basics. That can’t hurt.

It’s about showing men that doing household chores is sexy, although granted, it’s based on the most traditional expectations of male-female roles. There are progressive men out there already sharing in the “equity,” of course.

In the end, Whirlpool is not dumb.  I appreciated that in a market in which sales have slowed, the company didn’t once try to shove in the idea that when men and women fall in love and build a nest together, their passion could lead to an instinctive desire for, uh, “big ticket” items.  

After all, no one knows whether newfound love will last forever -- but appliances should.