pd@eisx.UUCP (06/16/83)
Has anyone been to the consumer electronics show in Chicago ? From what I understand, scantily clad women adorning Booths and handing out literature were de rigeur. I just had a long discussion on this with my office mate, Carol the Weiss Man, and basically had to agree to disagree. I would like to hear how other men & women feel about this issue. I definitely enjoy looking at scantily clad, attractive women However, the implicit message here is, "Look at these Sexy women. All they are is T. & A. They look nice standing over here, parading our (and their) wares, dont they ? It's OK to look at them and feel like you want to jump on them, because that's what women are there for, anyway. Come buy our stuff, won't you ?". Lot of men go for this sort of thing. I have to conciously resist such pandering to my baser instincts. The attitude that this engenders in men, I feel, is carried over into the workplace, and since we men are in the position to impose our attitudes, will necessarily degrade women. Therefore, if I was a woman, I'd organize a demonstration to call attention to what was going on there. REBUTTAL. (carol) It simply pays to have these women there, because it sells products. The only way to change the state of affairs is to get women into positions that make the buying decisions, and by influencing management. When 50% of EE's of women, then things will change. I am strongly comitted to changing sexist attitudes in the workplace, and to me, this does fall into that category. End of REBUTTAL Opinions ?? Prem
leichter@yale-com.UUCP (06/17/83)
The results of many advertising studies indicate that associating pretty wo- ment with your product in ads helps a lot to sell to men, and is anywhere from neutral to somewhat positive for selling to women. Using attractive men isn't particularly effective with either sex. (This latter one I'm not as sure of the details on.) Having many female engineers would probably have no real effect, since the "scantily clad woman" ploy would still be one of the most effective available. Myself, I suppose I am influenced subconciously just like anyone else, but on a rational level I find this kind of product pitch quite funny. (I once saw something called "Electronic Warfare Magazine", with ads for things like F-15's - parked out on a runway, with a pretty girl in a bikini standing beside them.) I find it difficult to take all that seriously as sexism or anything but an example of the power of our billion years of evolution... -- Jerry decvax!yale-comix!leichter leichter@yale
lynnef@teklabs.UUCP (06/17/83)
Another problem this leads to is that it is difficult for women to get anyone at a Consumer Electronics Show to take them seriously.
trb@floyd.UUCP (06/18/83)
I'd rather see sexy hardware and dumpy women than sexy women and dumpy hardware. I would think that it would be to a reputable company's disadvantage to use sexy women to lure men to their product; it would cause me to become suspicious, or at least confused. Andy Tannenbaum Bell Labs Whippany, NJ (201) 386-6491
paulina@ubvax.UUCP (06/18/83)
I also find this type of thing offensive but I guess I don't think having a demonstration to call attention to it is the most effective strategy at eliminating the problem. I agree that this strategy will almost certainly go away when more of the people making purchase decisions are women. (The strategy won't work.) In the short term, it may help to let the people who are designing such marketing strategies know that it is offensive. Many years ago I worked for a company which had that type of booth at a show. I attended the show and walked away both angry and embarassed. I ended up complaining to the other engineers back at work and eventually went to my manager explaining how I felt about it. He brought it up with his boss and eventually it trickled over to marketing. Turns out that...they got so much flak from within the company (I was not the only one initiating the complaints), that they decided that they would not use that strategy in the future. Perhaps an isolated example but it did work... Paulina
bstempleton@watmath.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (06/20/83)
This and many questions related to using sexy women to advertise are quite difficult to answer. The point brought up in opposition to using women in this way is that how attractive the woman is really has nothing to do with the merits of the product. Essentially what the company does is say, "Here's something our customers will be attracted to. It doesn't have anything to do with the product, but it works." We thus come to the realization that these women are being paid to be attractive and to give out handbills. On the other had, it is certainly de rigeur for any company with a booth at a show to have all the actual sales crew, male or female, dressed up as spiffy as possible. Think of what would happen if some salesperson wanted to do the show in cutoffs and a torn T-shirt. In this case, the company is insisting that the crew look good, even though their looks have nothing to do with the product. Do you know of anybody who boycotts a booth because all the sales crew are well dressed and look nice? -- Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304