Are The Naked Booth Babes Really Necessary?

I just came across this piece on Anina's site and it left me with some mixed feelings.  Seems like we've returned to the era of "sex sells", but is it really necessary?  Does every technology event need to have naked models roaming around?  Lemme rephrase that... naked FEMALE models? 

There are 2 ways that I'm looking at this.  One, there are many of us as you know "women in mobile" that want to be seen as just that, but no matter what men are gonna see what they want to see.  Can't fault them, thats their nature.  But why is it that they feel in order to sell something or convince consumers of their products there has to be either a half-naked or in today's day a painted lady to derive the attention of whats real?  Lemme ask this... did any of those painted chics know how to operate or even explain what the hell they were advertising? 

And number two, if we are reverting to the days of old in the "sex sells" thing... where the hell are they cladly painted men?  Oh I'm sorry... they were the ones wearing the suits.  The ones with the power.  The ones who need no nudity to get noticed.  So basically what I'm seeing is that the events themselves are just targeted towards men and in order to appeal to the men they need to throw in some presumably needed "eye candy".

I am usually not a negative person.  But I'm trying to get noticed here.  Along with many other talented women.  So while the eye candy is flaunting and posing, we are hear screaming our asses off!!  I've always been into fashion and if possible I would have tried my fate at modelling.  The painted body art expression is fine, but not for technology.  As stated on Anina's site... this method was just totally tasteless.

Hi I'm Darla, and I'm your booth bitch!!!

Comments

[Erik C. Thauvin]

How would you feel is they were using naked men insteads? Would that be okay? ;-)

E.

[Roland Tanglao]

amen darla!
i am 41 and raised in the era of women's lib
i can't stand booth babes male or female!
give me geeks mail or female please!
people who know what they are talking about who are wearing clothes!

[~JOSh-X]

Completely tasteless. They're abusing women by using their bodies to sell merch. It's disgusting.

(Techie Diva posted about this a couple of weeks ago... I'm just curious, why the delay?)

~JOSh-X

[~JOSh-X]

http://www.techiediva.com/weblog/2006/03/indecent_booth_.html

~JOSh-X

[Darla]

Hey JOSh-x,

The reason for the delay is that I only came across it this morning on Anina.net. Lol and it wasn't a couple of weeks ago, it was 4 days ago. I can understand Gena being peeved as the rest of us are, but no matter where or when the issue was posted it doesn't deny the fact that to some of us it is an issue.

[Amy Alkon]

I would be much more inclined to look at women in high-tech fashion, a la Gerenreich's plastic dresses, etc., with innovations to accomodate technology. Body paint is very much the antithesis of what they're trying to sell.

[anina.net]

you know, there is a famous model, named verushka, who is famous because she did a lot of body painting photos for vogue etc and she did videos too. my point is, yes, have the body painting, but the way veruschka did it was there was a background and then she would step out of the background and you were amazed because YOU DIDNT EVEN SEE HER THERE, she was so well painted.

so my point is, that if this had been done with fashion professinals, who know the hisotry of body art, veruschka, etc, they would have done it so much better. i would have done it even so much better and i know very little history about veruschka...they could have been standing in front of a backdrop and painted into it and then emerged and brought the phones forward, and the phones themselves could have had painted covers and...well...it could have been done SO MUCH BETTER. which is my point about bringing fashion and tech together.

ps thank you for linking to project lifeblog. very kind of you!

[Kelake]

Whether this is in good taste is debatable but I never buy into the argument that these women are being abused - give me a break. Instead of making broad generalisations about the abuse of women because some feel comfortable enough about themselves to pose nude why not actually ask them their opinion? I think it's interesting how these models don't look actually like "models".

I find the whole booth babe phenomenon boring and tired but obviously it is in some way an effective marketing tool. It certainly has you talking.

[LiberalZombie]

What is with all this prudishness? Isn't it idiotic that we are taught to be ashamed of our bodies? What happened to the fight against the faked and unrealistic depictions of women's bodies in advertising that is causing all the eating disorders in young girls? Nudity should be celebrated. Let everyone see what a natural body looks like. The less we treat our natural state as a taboo, the less it can be used as a tool and harmful tactic against us.

[Naked Babes]

The girl on the left is very nice! This is an artistic nude :)

[bob]

Well, guys like to look at nude women as you say, no secret there. No matter what happens, that's probably never gonna change. The PR people (guys?) know this and use female nudity to get attention, it's just a "proven" way that works...

Now, if you (women) want nude male models as well, I guess you just gonna be more outspoken about this, and gather round those that DO use male models or something. But I guess you don't and the PR guys know it doesn't sell so I guess it's your own fault... Gotta be more single-minded, like us guys... ;)

[Annie]

Hi Darla,

I totally understand and get annoyed all the time with the objectification of women. At the end of the day I have the right to walk out of my house and do what I have to do or enjoy, without being subjected to these kind of images. It is actually a torture for me and affects my life. I am looking for ways to do something about it.
Please contact me if you can. A

[zadosha]

ok, I'm in agreement that there isn't a need for nude models in booths or really anywhere, but to say that it "tortures" you and "affects" you life? I just don't understand those types of statements. People that are that offended by nudity have some serious issues. There are much worse things in the world than some bare breasts.

The arguement of female objectification is NEVER going to go away. The instincts that drive us will not allow it. It doesn't matter if a woman is in a business suit or in a g-string, our instincts drive us to look at a woman as a potential mate. That is not something that we can completely control. But nor can women control the instincts that they have. At best, we can accept our differences and move along.

OK, back again to the original point. If you have to use half-naked women to sell your product, then your product probably sucks.

just my 2 cents

[Chelsea]

Thank you for posting this!!

The way women are being treated as simply objects pisses me off to no end. Where are the naked men? If naked women are fine then so should nude men. Why not? All these women being used to make all these guys happy, its ridiculous.

And then I hear guys say things like, "Why cant women just be happy with their bodies?" Well, duh, its because these naked women (or strippers, dancers, etc) are the ones you guys are looking at, not the gorgeous woman over there that may be a little overweight.

Such a double standard...

And to say that this problem will never go away...with that mindset it wont.