Has Janet Kornblum of USA Today Been Reading My Blog?
USA Today posted an article last night by Janet Kornblum that looks as if it was researched right here on my blog. If you are a regular reader, you know that I have been writing about my reservations about eHarmony for awhile (5/10, 3/13). Kornblum’s article “eHarmony: Heart and soul” captures succinctly just what I have been saying: Neil Clark Warren, eHarmony’s founder, has roots in the Christian community that he is now trying to distance himself from, and discriminates against Gays, Lesbians, and 16% of those who take eHarmony’s personality test—those determined by eHarmony to be “unmatchable.”
Here’s some clarity I had not seen before:
Warren started out marketing primarily to Christian sites, touting eHarmony as “based on the Christian principles of Focus on the Family author Dr. Neil Clark Warren.”
The connection may come as a surprise to today’s mainstream users: Nothing in Warren’s TV or radio ads ($50 million spent last year, $80 million projected this year) hints at his Christian background.
And while it’s no secret, the Web site doesn’t play it up, either.
eHarmony increasingly is seeking out secular audiences through online partnerships, including promotions on USATODAY.com and other news sites owned by USA TODAY’s parent company, Gannett. As part of that effort, Warren is trying to distance himself from Focus on the Family and its founder James Dobson, a longtime friend.
Warren says he will no longer appear on Dobson’s radio show, and he recently bought back the rights to the three books Focus on the Family published—Finding the Love of Your Life, Make Anger Your Ally and Learning to Live with the Love of Your Life - so he can drop Focus’ name from their covers.
“We’re trying to reach the whole world—people of all spiritual orientations, all political philosophies, all racial backgrounds,” Warren says. “And if indeed, we have Focus on the Family on the top of our books, it is a killer. Because people do recognize them as occupying a very precise political position in this society and a very precise spiritual position.”
eHarmony is NOT looking for Gays and Lesbians, though. I guess Warren doesn’t consider them part of the whole world.
What’s particularly interesting is this article appears in USA Today, and on the web edition, in the banner across the top, is an eHarmony ad. I’ve always thought of USA Today as a bland, middle of the road or right-ish publication and probably have never even bought an issue myself. The only times I have read it is when it is left at my door in hotels, or when I am bored in an airport and find a discarded copy in the next seat.
Yea for USA Today to publish this article, and Yea for Kornblum to write it.
From Your Romance Coach, Kathryn Lord
