Normally, in our ongoing Real or Fake segments, we take a look at more lighthearted fare, like this Alabama fan destroying his television.

And also CeeLo Green’s phone exploding in his face, which if serious wouldn’t have been lighthearted, but that ended up being fake. This isn’t really lighthearted at all, though. In fact, it’s best described as gross, whether it ends up being real or not.

The Verge did a bit of digging into Adoptly, which bills itself as a tech startup aiming to help match prospective adoptive parents with children in need of adoption. Okay, so far, not that weird.

It’s the “how”, though, that adds a particularly slimy feel:

In a concept video, adults swipe right or left to accept or reject kids looking for a family. It’s a dark vision, marrying the superficial nature of modern dating with the important work of finding homes for orphaned children. But is it the real deal, or a scheme designed to highlight the shallow and tone-deaf stereotype of Silicon Valley?

Holy shit, that’s horrifying. We’ll get to that last (very important) question in a bit, but let’s take this at face value first. Adoption is a process that places stress on just about every possible personal pressure point, from emotional to financial. Think about what this company is at the very least pretending to facilitate: the rejection of children in need of adoption based on a swipe of the screen.

Even if it is some kind of hoax, or attempt to satirize the way Silicon Valley startups try to create lifehacks via the simplest of interfaces, it’s poorly thought out, and not treating the weight of the subject matter appropriately. The Verge talked to one of the apparent “founders”, and came away on the side of fake, but not without doubt:

Adoptly co-founder Alex Nawrocki insists the company is authentic. “We’re not trying to gamify or make fun of this experience,” he said in a phone interview this week. “The adoption industry at large is a little bit underserved by the tech industry. We saw this unique opportunity to disrupt it, particularly when you’re talking about online adoption.”

Again, this is a company that has raised a few thousand dollars via Kickstarter, though it’s currently not anywhere close to its goal of $150,000.

Here’s the Adoptly Kickstarter video, which definitely does not seem real:

The piece continued:

Despite this lack of information, Nawrocki was earnest and articulate about Adoptly’s purpose. He stressed that the app is not designed to replace adoption services, nor is it even supposed to make money. (He says Adoptly chose not to seek venture capital funding for that reason.) Instead, it’s supposed to act as a free network to get conversations started and help parents more easily begin the first steps toward adoption.

As for the swiping mechanic, Nawrocki says the app is modeled after how people connect nowadays. “Our target demographic is millennials who are beginning to reach the age of parenthood,” he said. “Our thinking is that it’s important to take technologies that keep tempo with them, and the swipe is something that group is particularly familiar with.”

After reading The Verge piece, it seems more than likely Adoptly is an attempt at dark humor. Which is obviously the more desirable outcome, at this point. And the world of tech startups is a ripe target; look no further than HBO’s Silicon Valley. Good taste is always relative, of course. But here’s why this particular subject matter, whether it’s real or fake this time (or whether someone tries it for real in the future), fails to be that funny:

In the U.S. 397,122 children are living without permanent families in the foster care system. 101,666 of these children are eligible for adoption, but nearly 32% of these children will wait over three years in foster care before being adopted.

Hilarious stuff. A comedy gold mine.

[The Verge]

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.