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PRESENTED BY ONCE DATING

Introducing… the ultimate dating app for expats

Once upon a time there was an expat. The expat had moved abroad and was overjoyed with the decision. A beautiful city, an upbeat international lifestyle, learning a new language, and discovering the quirks of working abroad made each day a new and exciting challenge.

Published: 12 May 2017 09:00 CEST
Introducing... the ultimate dating app for expats

.There was just one aspect of life which wasn’t quite working out yet…

Dating.

We here at The Local are no strangers to the ups and downs of expat life. Sure, there’s plenty to celebrate about living abroad. But when it comes to dating, starting from scratch in a new country with a different dating culture doesn’t exactly make it easier to find the perfect match.

Connecting with people locally can take time, and it’s sometimes hard to know where to start.

And since so many of our readers use The Local to connect ‘locally’ with online news and communities in new countries, it seemed natural for us look at how we could also make it easier for you — our readers — to meet people offline as well.

That’s why we’ve launched a new online dating service powered by Once, the dating app that mixes high-tech with a human touch.

Some of you may have already discovered what happens when you click on the ‘Dating’ category on The Local’s menu bar (to find ‘Dating’ while viewing The Local on a mobile device, just swipe left on the menu bar).

The link takes you to a quick-and-easy download of what we think is the ultimate dating app for expats.

Rather than leaving everything to some anonymous algorithm, Once actually employs real people – hundreds of them – who handpick matches based not only on your digital profile, but also on their own ‘gut feeling’ about who might be the best match for you.

With Once, you only have to consider one potential match per day, making it easier to focus on figuring out whether that new face is one you’d like to see more of. We have enough to sort through on our screens (and in our lives) as it is – who has time to swipe through yet another feed?

Click here to download the ultimate expat dating app

And you can rest assured that a language barrier won’t derail your love life – your matches on Once will all speak English (although that may not be the only language they speak).

With nearly 4 million users across the globe, Once offers plenty of options for you to find the perfect match…and experience love at first sight, no matter where you are.

So what are you waiting for? Check out The Local’s new dating service and download the app.

After all, you only live once.

This article was produced by The Local Client Studio and sponsored by Once

HEALTH

IN PICTURES: 7 of the French government’s sexiest public health adverts

An advertising campaign aimed at convincing young people to get the Covid vaccine has attracted international attention, but it’s not the first time that French authorities have sexed up their public health messaging.

Published: 8 July 2021 17:22 CEST
Updated: 11 July 2021 12:16 CEST
IN PICTURES: 7 of the French government's sexiest public health adverts
Image: AIDES.

It’s an international cliché that France is the land of l’amour – or at least the land of le sexe – and that reputation does seem to be justified, given how often French public health bodies have turned to sex in an attempt to get their message across.

From the suggestive to the downright scandalous, here are seven examples of health campaigns which relied on that oh so French fondness for romance.

Get vaccinated, get laid

The Covid campaign in question was created by regional health authorities in the southern Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur region.

The poster which has got people hot under the collar features two very attractive and very French-looking people kissing, seemingly in the back of a cab after a night on the town. “Yes, the vaccine can have desirable effects,” it says.

The campaign has proved so popular that it will soon be expanded.

Promoting road safety

Earlier this year, the French Road Safety Delegation released a video ahead of Valentine’s Day, which showed a couple sharing an intimate moment in the bedroom.

The full 30-second video featured the slogan, “Life is better than one last drink for the road”.

Another image of two people kissing, seemingly without clothes, included the line, “Life, love. On the road, don’t forget what truly matters.”

Fight against HIV/AIDS

While the link between road safety and sex isn’t immediately obvious, less surprising are the references to intimacy in the health ministry’s HIV awareness campaign from 2016.

Each of the different posters shows two men embracing. Straplines include, “With a lover, with a friend, with a stranger. Situations vary, and so do the protective measures.”

The posters shocked conservative sensibilities, and several right-wing mayors asked for them to be taken down in their towns. 

HIV awareness campaign

Just a few days after the controversy over the ministry’s posters ignited, the non-profit AIDES launched its own campaign, and it didn’t hold back.

The posters showed scuba instructors, piano teachers and parachutists, all of them naked alongside their students. The slogan: “People undergoing treatment for HIV have a lot of things to pass onto us. But the AIDS virus isn’t one.”

“Even if we’ve been spreading this information since 2008, we realise that a lot of people don’t know that antiviral treatments prevent spreading,” head of AIDES Aurélien Beaucamp told France Info.

“People are still afraid of those who are HIV-positive.” 

Government-mandated pornography

It’s common for sexualised advertising campaigns to be labelled pornographic by critics, but in 1998, the French government went a step further and created actual pornography.

READ ALSO Language of love – 15 of the best romantic French phrases

The health ministry commissioned TV station Canal Plus to create five short erotic films to encourage the use of condoms and prevent the spread of HIV. The campaign featured up-and-coming directors such as Cedric Klapisch and Gaspar Noé.

“The only possible way to look at, to get people to protect themselves, is to show, show everything, show simply and without creating an obsession of the sexual act and the act of wearing a condom,” Klapisch said, according to an Associated Press story published at the time. 

You didn’t really think we’d include images of this one, did you? (OK, here’s a link for those who are curious).

A controversial anti-smoking campaign

https://twitter.com/MarketainmentSE/status/212863393143586817

It’s time to forget what we said about romance, because there is nothing romantic about this 2010 campaign from the Droits des Non-Fumeurs (Non-smokers’ rights) association and the BDDP & Fils communications agency.

The campaign featured several images of young people with a cigarette in their mouths, looking up at an adult man who rested his hand on their heads. The cigarette appeared to be coming out of the man’s trousers.

The slogan said, “Smoking means being a slave to tobacco”. The association said the sexual imagery was meant to get the attention of young people who were desensitised to traditional anti-smoking messages, but the posters caused outrage, with members of the government publicly criticising the choice of imagery.

Celebrating LGBTQ+ love

On the other end of the spectrum is this very romantic video from the national health agency Santé Publique France. It was released on May 17th 2021, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, and was part of a campaign against anti-LGBT discrimination and violence. It is set to Jean-Claude Pascal’s Nous les amoureux

Showing a diverse range of couples kissing, holding hands, and healing each other’s wounds, the video ends on the word play: “In the face of intolerance, it’s up to us to make the difference.”

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