All’s fair in love and marketing: a movie debuting at SXSW in Austin used the dating app Tinder as a marketing tool over the weekend, and some users were accidentally catfished.
According to Adweek, Tinder users have been falling for another user called “Ava.” The only problem? “Ava” is actually a fake account to promote Ex Machina, a movie about robots debuting at SXSW last weekend.
“Ava” told one would-be-Tinder-hookup to check out her Instagram, which was packed with promotional materials for Ex Machina. And her photo is actually of Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, who plays a bot in the movie.
So think before you swipe: you could be flirting with an ad.
[Adweek]
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Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com