It Looks Like DC's Metro System Is Not Cool With OKCupid's Ads Against The Far Right

It looks like conservatives having problems dating in the District have gotten a small reprieve. D.C.'s transit system denied OkCupid's anti-far right dating ads, according to The Hill. The company told The Hill that the ads — which play on the acronym DTF — fail to have "neutrality."

The DTF ad campaign was created to "recast" the phrase "down to f*ck" to better describe what OkCupid users are looking for in relationships, AdWeek reported on July 20. The first iterations of the ads published say "DTFall Head Over Heels" or "DTFire Up The Kiln." (Images from the entire DTF campaign are available on OkCupid's blog.)

The Washington Metro system rejected ads that read, "Down to Fantasize about 2020" and another ad that reads, "Down to Filter Out the Far Right." An OKCupid spokesperson told The Hill that the Washington Metro said the ads display a "strong opinion" for a political group.

"We are disappointed that the Washington Metro has rejected these specific ads from OkCupid's 'DTF' campaign," OkCupid’s Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Hobley told The Hill. "OkCupid has a huge presence in D.C. and at its core, the ad imagery reflects what OkCupid users are talking about when it comes to dating, and this campaign puts it all out in the open."

These ads are coming off yet another round of headlines about how conservatives in Washington, D.C. are having problems finding people to date them because of their politics or employment.

The images were designed by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari. Cattelan's name may sound familiar because the Guggenehim Museum offered to loan Cattelan's 18-karat golden toilet sculpture to President Donald Trump instead of a Van Gogh painting, according to The New York Times.

The ad campaign has been banned by multiple Chicago agencies, including Chicago Transit Authority (the city's mass transit operator), Chicago Park District, as well as O’Hare International Airport, according to Chicago Reader. Adweek reported the ads have also been banned in San Francisco.

On the East Coast, New York City's transit system rejects the "DTFilter Out The Far Right" ads, according to Adweek. (The transit authority also nixed "DTFour Twenty" and "DTFootball Vs. Fùtbol," according to the report.)

Hobley said the ad campaign was about giving women a voice. "OkCupid had a powerful insight driving the DTF campaign, and that is that this phrase needs to be flipped," she tells Bustle in a statement. "For too long, it was used mostly by men to talk about women in a derogatory way. The DTF campaign is coming to life in a big way in many cities across the US and that's because it's resonating -- in particular, with young women."

OkCupid has gotten increasingly political in the last two years. In September 2017, the site unveiled a profile badge in support of Planned Parenthood. The badge says #IStandWithPP on the user's profile.

In a blog post announcing the new feature, OkCupid said that 80 percent of users who responded to the question "Should the government defund Planned Parenthood?" said "no." (Answering the question is how you get the badge.)

In June, the dating site unveiled a badge in support of the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU. This badge says #RightToLove. The question this time — "Do you support the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)?" — has a 90 percent "yes" answer, according to the site.

This post has been updated.