Edmonton Radio Station Offers “Win a Wife” Contest

Yeah… I wish I was joking.  As a matter of fact, when I first heard about this I was sure it had to be a joke – surely no one would think that it was appropriate to set up a contest in which winners are promised a “Mail-Order Bride” and think that there wouldn’t be any backlash…  Apparently I was very wrong.  So upset am I that I’ve been prompted to make my first posting here at Feministing.

Edmonton’s radio station 100.3FM The Bear has begun the “Win a Wife” contest.

The contest – which, since  the submission of a Change.com petition bearing over 8000 signatures – has been changed to the “Win a Russian Romance” contest (note: the name but not the premise has changed), offers winners a chance to fly to Russia to meet a “foreign hot chick” for potential holy matrimony.  The Bear has teamed up with A Volga Girl — a company that describes themselves as a “Bride Agency” catering to American (and now Canadian) men, however the Bear maintains that this company provides “a service that many online dating services provide such as Plenty-o-Fish, eHarmony, and Lavalife” (an actual quote from the email that the station manager sent back to my complaint).

Emails have been written, petitions have bee submitted, correspondence has taken place, and still nothing has been done on the part of the radio station, who apparently think this whole thing is a joke.  As I said, the name of the contest has been changed, but nothing else has happened.  Furthermore, the new contest name “Win a Russian Romance” has been shoddily pasted over the initial title of “Win a Wife” so that the initial slogan is still quite visible – in the promotions material for the contest, the “Win a Wife” part has been crossed out – like so – in what I’m interpreting as a gesture of sarcasm and aggression.

If you’re as upset about this as I am, then I strongly recommend both signing the change.org petition and also emailing the station:  rvavrek@astral.com

Tell your friends, post on facebook, make a stink.  This is utter bullshit.

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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