I decided to go crazy: I’m a contestant on a competition held by Ondatex, a Portuguese/Chinese clothes brand, operating their own network of shops in the Lisbon area, as well as their own website (http://www.ondatex.com). It was easy to join the competition: all I had to do was to send them one of my photos, wearing one piece of clothing bought at their shops. And now, until February 8th, anyone is able to vote on the contestants’ photos — all it requires is a ‘Like’. The contestant with the largest number of «Likes» on their photo wins (they get a voucher to buy some clothes at one of their shops).
Of course I’m aware that this is a very basic advertising stunt to raise brand awareness. Obviously I know that the ‘Likes’ mean nothing: each contestant will naturally ask all their friends to vote for her. The brand knows that perfectly well — they care little about the quality of the pictures, or about the model poses, or even what piece of clothing they choose to wear! All that matters is the amount of ‘Likes’.
Why did I choose to participate? It was a devious plan: Ondatex has no issue with transgender people participating. Personally, I’m not aware of any contest in Portugal having ever been won by a transgender person. So this would be the perfect chance to show that we are just like any other persons: in my personal case, I’m vain like any other woman, I love the same clothing that they buy, and I go to the same shops (btw, Ondatex only sells original pieces 😉 ). If I win, this event would give the transgender people in my country some visibility — as well as showing that this network of clothes shops, like many others, have absolutely no problem in having transgender people as customers.
Therefore I’m doing something I never did before: I’m asking for your vote. You have to follow the link below and put a ‘Like’ there:
That’s all. There aren’t many contestants, so I have a pretty reasonable chance to win 🙂 It’s not even the prize in itself that is meaningful, but it’s a question of principle; and if there are a lot of ‘Likes’, maybe the brand owners consider the contest a success and do it again in the future. And maybe next time we get more transgender people to participate!
I thank you all in advance. If I win, I promise that I’ll share the prize with some of you, and together we’ll plunder the clothes racks at one of their shops 🙂
Big hugs and kisses! 🙂
