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11/22/2024 02:00:15 am

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Pinterest Hires Sexist Ex-Unilever Executive to Attract More Men

(Photo : www.adweek.com) David Rubin

Pinterest, ranked the most loved social networking site by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, just hired the man behind Axe's notoriously sexist ads. 

The move to hire David Rubin, a former executive of Unilever, was instigated by the management of Pinterest in an effort to attract more male users to the site.

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Consequently, the founding members and most of the top executives of Pinterest are men.

Rubin will be leading Pinterest's global brand marketing, and will be in charge of defining its brand strategy as well as managing its marketing initiatives.

He will be heading a group of 20 employees which includes creative-and-design, writing and marketing specialists.

"Clearly my coming here is evidence that the company believes that their brand is an important asset and is looking to build that," Rubin shared.

The social networking site, wherein users can catalog anything they find interesting online in scrapbook-like collections called Pinboards, sees a significant number of female users over male users.

According to the analytics firm RJMetrics, around 80 percent of users are female and, a staggering 92 percent of the posts on Pinterest are owned by women.

The site saw a peak of male users in its second year; however, the gender gap between Pinterest users continues to grow, with the number of male users in steady decline.

This is where Rubin, described as the "testosterone whisperer", comes in.

Rubin's interest in fulfilling the desires of young men has translated into controversial, yet highly effective, Axe ad campaigns which featured scantily clad women chasing after men who used the said brand of body spray.

Ironically, Rubin's misogynistic strategy is muddled by the fact that he also collaborated on Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign which spoke of developing self-esteem in women, especially young girls.

Rubin has also worked on campaigns for other Unilever brands such as Suave and Tresemmé.

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