The Los Angeles Clippers debuted Bumble patches on their uniforms on Tuesday evening as the basketball team officially partnered with the dating app just a day after Bumble banned its users from posing profile pictures with guns.
“Never before has a major professional sports team partnered in this way with a female-driven brand like Bumble,” Bumble Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said in a statement. “It’s an honor to partner with an organization as progressive and compassionate as the Clippers. Like us, they know generating awareness for diversity and gender equality is critical to business success.”
This partnership is more than a patch.
Proud to stand with @Bumble for diversity and gender equality.
We are #StrongerWithHer.For more info, please visit: https://t.co/1CRln6I2Xk pic.twitter.com/S7hHUk8ek3
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) March 6, 2018
The Clippers referred to the Bumble patch as an “empowerment badge.” The organization is reportedly the first to sign a jersey patch deal with a “female-driven” organization, and the three-year deal is reportedly worth $20 million.
With the @LAClippers , we are bringing together two organizations with strong female leadership who support and invest in promoting gender equality. We’re shattering backboards as well as glass ceilings. #StrongerWithHer https://t.co/kU8ovptFlC
— Bumble (@bumble) March 6, 2018
“We wanted to do something where we could really stand out and do something meaningful,” Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said. “The way it is positioned it becomes part of the game, so it’s an opportunity to have more meaning for everybody.”
On Monday, the dating app announced that it will be “moderating all new and previously uploaded photos for the presence of guns” in addition to donating $100,000 to March for Our Lives, the gun-control group that some survivors of the Parkland tragedy founded.
We were founded with safety, respect and kindness in mind. As mass shootings continue to devastate communities across the country, it’s time to state unequivocally that gun violence is not in line with our values, nor do these weapons belong on Bumble. https://t.co/fC4rPlGJ8y pic.twitter.com/Qmy7zLatRP
— Bumble (@bumble) March 5, 2018
“Online behavior can both mirror and predict how people treat each other in the real world. Bumble has a responsibility to our users and a larger goal to encourage accountability offline. In the past, when we’ve had an opportunity to make our platform safer, we’ve taken action, banning hate speech and inappropriate sexual content from the Bumble app,” Bumble said. “As mass shootings continue to devastate communities across the country, it’s time to state unequivocally that gun violence is not in line with our values, nor do these weapons belong on Bumble.”
The Clippers lost to the New Orleans Pelicans, 121-116, while debuting the “empowerment badge” on Tuesday evening in a game the Pelicans dominated for much of the evening.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.