Some online dating profiles are like breasts implants. They look good. They keep your attention. Yet, upon closer inspection, there’s nothing in them that’s real. The big difference is that most people won’t reject you over plastic surgery (unless you’re that horrifying cat lady, Jocelyn Wildenstein, or Carrot Top, or Mickie Rourke.)
Point is, while an embellished profile might initially arouse the interest of potential suitors, in the end the ruse will fall flat. No one likes liars. That’s a fact in the same that no one likes cockroaches, pen leaks or lima beans is a fact.
I’ve seen online dating profile photos of “slim” people wearing suspiciously large clothes. I’ve seen other dating profiles of people claiming to earn outrageously high incomes even though they clearly couldn’t string a sentence together let alone hold down a job. I’ve also seen dating profile photos of people who are apparently over 6 feet tall even though they seem surprising teeny weenie next to the door that they’re posing next to (not the most brilliant way to pull off a deception).
I once when on a date with a fun, attractive guy. However, he was 6 years older than he claimed on his profile. I understand fudging the facts so that you don’t get left out on searches, but somewhere on your profile or in the initial emails, you need to come clean. I never saw him again. He lied and, to me, there’s no such thing as a “white” lie unless it’s one that’s pure of heart. He lied not out of good intentions, but self-serving ones.
The outcome of lying is never good. People who catch the red flags on your online dating profile won’t contact you unless there’s something cagey about them too. Those people who do go through the excitement and trepidation of a meet and greet only to be letdown by a misrepresentation will never, ever want to see you a second time unless, again, there’s something questionable (or desperate or batty) about them.
False advertising has consequences. In the corporate world, reputations get ruined. Companies get sued. People lose their jobs. In the dating world, people get angry and disappointed, while others get rejected. Don’t lie on your dating profile. If for some reason you do lie, make the misrepresentation known immediately in the first emails. Save yourself and others from the otherwise inevitable consequences.
As an online dating profile writer trained in marketing, I can honestly (like that!) say that everyone has wonderfully unique character traits. There’s no need to lie on your dating profile. You just need to uncover what makes you special and know how to present them (this is where I come in).
