Gumtree

Gumtree is a popular website used for advertising. As someone who is unemployed I am well versed in the hunting of jobs on these pages. Whilst innocently flicking through hundreds of adverts with their tempting offers of work I was led astray by Gumtree’s many categories. Seeing what else apart from work this website had to offer seemed like a plausible way of procrastinating. I was suddenly thrown into Gumtree’s seedy underworld of alternative adverts, something that I had never expected to find on what from the outside seemed like a fairly PC domain. Underneath the street fundraising and bar work people have taken it upon themselves to advertise everything from their own bodies to their deepest darkest thoughts using the thousands of people browsing through as their faceless counselor, People advertising for best friends pinning all their hopes onto “the right candidate” stumbling over their cry for help.

At first glance into the community section of Gumtree it just seems like strangers with fetishes or forty something men looking for a quick shag and to give a willing lady the best massage she will ever receive with his strong hand. But when you scratch that surface a little bit more its clear to tell that nestled between these sex-ridden monologues is a group of very lonely people advertising their lives to people that they have no relation to at all. But people that could have drank coffee on the adjacent seat to them in the Starbucks yesterday or sat playing angry birds and listening to al green on the tube this morning right opposite but the fact is they will probably never ever know and maybe that’s what keeps them feeling safe, and powers this on going river of self advertisements some of which aren’t even asking for anything in return, but only the chance to be heard.