Wednesday, January 9, 2013

No, No... Look Up Here...

This fetching young lass is having her face appear all around the internet. In a number of cases it's as a visual designed to illustrate something people feel is wrong with the Consumer Electronics Show being held this week in Las Vegas. Namely, Booth Babes. "A year after the BBC first highlighted the issue scantily clad women are still a staple of electronics and technology shows around the world," we are told, as if a year should have made all the difference.

The message is one that we've heard many times before, that using women in sexy outfits to show off technology (among other things) is sexist and degrading. And some well-meaning guys have chimed in with the observation that they'd be unlikely to remember the actual product being marketed after such a display. I realize that they're trying to be helpful, but if the sight of some partially-exposed breasts are enough to torpedo someone's short-term memory, it's not only the exhibitors at CES that one should be disappointed in...

The message that there shouldn't be booth babes because men's tiny little caveman brains can't see anything other than their tits seems to shame those who attend trade shows more than it shames the executives in charge of such things. In this vein, I think a better message would be "If your product is so uncompelling that you have to nestle in between a woman's breasts to have it be noticed, why should I waste money on it?" Get the trade show attendees to adopt that attitude, and the Booth Babe issue will take care of itself. And likely more besides.

No comments: