What Happened to You Ashley Madison? You Used to Be Cool.

When I first joined the ranks of adulterers on Ashley Madison, the above image is the one which greeted me every time I logged on. The discreet (but hot) businesswoman whispering temptingly into her handsome colleague’s ear. One can only assume she’s suggesting they have an affair; she might even be teasing him that his monogamy has become monotony, as mentioned in the tagline at the top of the page.

Not long after I joined it became this:

Wowsers! For the site which had been promoting discretion and legitimacy, this was downright raunchy! (Though the logo was somehow classier…) No second guessing what was going on in that picture, and the tagline was nice and punchy too: Life is short, have an affair!

Finally (in my time) they changed it to this:

The tagline is the same, but now we’re purely going for discretion. “Shh,” says the sexy girl in the photo, “my husband can’t know what we’re doing.” The logo has also been simplified, with a not so subtle wedding ring there – as if it’s been discarded.

And that is what Ashley Madison was all about: Grownups having grownup affairs; the messaging was always that this is something lots of people do, so let’s stop being so uptight about it and just do it. Sometimes the ads they’d run would be a bit more suggestive, like this:

Or this:

But the site itself was always the discreet site for grownups, as opposed to the sophomoric Adult Friend Finder:

Or the type of paradises for perverts you see advertised on Fantasti:

If Ashley Madison is for grownups, these sites are for horny teenagers, tired of wankin it. If I want to “get my cock sucked” I’ll go to Adult Friend Finder, and if I want to “fuck strangers” (or “fuck ugly women”) I’ll go to one of the places advertised on Fantasti. But if I want a discreet affair, I’ll go to Ashley Madison, thankyouverymuch.

Well… that is, until recently. Ashley seems to have changed her style:

Wow. That could have come straight from my Smutty feed! And such language, Ashley! I don’t think I’ve ever heard you drop an f-bomb before!

Competition must be fierce if Ashley’s willing to get down into the mud with those other sites, though I would imagine they’re giving away their one differentiator – that is, it’s the site for grownups. How the hell am I going to bring up the site at work with that image splashed across the screen?!? (I’ll use my phone, I guess. Problem solved.)