OnePlus shoots itself in the foot (and everywhere else) in disastrous marketing campaign

OnePlus is a Chinese mobile phone manufacturing company. It's been getting interest from around the world by manufacturing a very well speced Android smartphone, the OnePlus One. 

And it's selling it for half the price of other companies' flagship devices. Or rather, it's issuing "invitations" which allow you to buy a handset. 

Good marketing?

Perhaps. Up until now. 

OnePlus has just launched a disastrous competition for its invitations. Here's GBR's take on it:

(GBR) Congratulations, OnePlus: You’ve managed to create a marketing stunt for your phone that’s even worse than HTC’s ill-advised $1 billion Robert Downey, Jr. campaign and your own “smash your phone” campaign. OnePlus on Tuesday took the wraps off of a new promotional contest called “Ladies First” that invites female OnePlus fans to “draw a OnePlus logo on a piece of paper or your hand/face/wherever” and then to post it to a thread on OnePlus’s website. 

The unlucky ladies who actually go through with this will then have their photos voted on by community members, the vast majority of which are men — as even OnePlus acknowledges, the number of women who are community members are “few but beautiful,” and we imagine their numbers will be even fewer after they see this contest.

Oh, and for good measure, OnePlus specifies that there should be “no nudity” in the OnePlus pictures its minuscule female fan base sends it. Yes, we’re completely serious:

And what’s the prize for successfully subjecting your appearance to the whims of a bunch of basement-dwelling dweebs? Why, it’s a OnePlus One invite and a “Never Settle” t-shirt.

Nicely played, OnePlus. You’ve just set the bar for insulting, poorly thought out marketing campaigns.

Update: OnePlus has now cancelled the competition: 

Women make up half the world, and we want to help them be more involved in tech. We understand that our contest was in bad taste, and have therefore pulled it. All participants will be contacted for prizes.

We apologize and we will course correct for the future. At the same time, we would love to hear your feedback on how we can better get women involved in tech.