"booth babes"??

[lph]

Ok, so the PI jersey "ad", (or is that "jersey" ad), was weird, but in somewhat more nudity-friendly Norway I was more confused than outraged by it.

But reading fat.cyclist's blog from Interbike had me outraged. I've never been to anything like this nor read much about them, but... what's with the "booth babes", the girls promoting various bike gadgets while wearing hot pants, crop tops and high heels?? I'd like to think I could go to a bike show like this and feel welcome as a cyclist among other cyclists, not "oops, this one's for guys who like bikes, babes and boobs". I'm assuming there's no bevy of shirtless hunks promoting gadgets to women. Not that I would particularly want them, but it would balance out the guys-only impression.

Smurf, you're there - any feedback?

Nothing against fat.cyclist btw, just happened to see the photos there:
http://www.fatcyclist.com/

[7rider]

Not Smurf, but I got feedback.

I think (sadly) that they are endemic to trade shows. The Contessa (http://www.contessa.com/main.php) "girls" are well known at seafood trade shows (along with loud rock music). By and large, it's guys who go to trade shows....and the scantily clad women bring them to your booth. I guess that's what it's all about. :rolleyes: It certainly got Fatty and Kenny to the booths.

[lph]

how annoying :mad: It's not really the skin as such, I'd wear that little happily on a hot day (well, apart from the heels :rolleyes:) but it's the "here, guys, this is all for you-uu" feeling I get. Cycling is MY sport too. They're taking it away from me and giving it to the guys. And they're doing it by making women look silly, which is doubly infuriating.

[celerystalksme]

how annoying :mad: It's not really the skin as such, I'd wear that little happily on a hot day (well, apart from the heels :rolleyes:) but it's the "here, guys, this is all for you-uu" feeling I get. Cycling is MY sport too. They're taking it away from me and giving it to the guys. And they're doing it by making women look silly, which is doubly infuriating.

cycling is for men and women. trade shows are not. if 99% of the people that went to cycling trade shows were women, rest assured, they'd cater to women...they'd do all the research necessary to lure the trade women to their booth.

but trade shows are 99% men. so...the suits are doing everything they can to lure every last male trade show goer to their booth.

they don't care about being sensitive to the social sensibilities of a minority group. they don't even care about the men there, directly! all they really care about is the money. and they'll do what they have to do in order to maximize exposure and profit.

it's not personal...it's business.

[JaneE]

My husband spent last week in Las Vegas at a computer-related show ("VM World"). There were women and men attending and working the booths. Most computer and computer-related companies do employ both men *and* women these days :rolleyes:, though you might have been hard-pressed to guess that fact just by looking. All of the booths (including the one for the company that DH works for) had "booth babes." The Sunday evening party sponsored by my husband's company actually had pole dancers for their "entertainment." Classy? :confused: Nah...just kind-of gross, imo.

DH has had to go to LV a number of times for these types of shows and hates it. You can't walk down the street without being accosted in some way by hookers or pimps, despite the fact that you're part of a group of men and women. DH has, unfortunately, learned things about co-workers at some of these LV events that he wishes he didn't know (their proclivity to gamble, drink to excess and avail themselves of the local, ahem, "escort" services, whether they happen to be married or not). Not pleasant.

But hey, where else in the world can you collect hooker trading cards?? ;)

[pardes]

It IS very sad to see this kind of advertising used for ANY product.

Someone here has a tag line of "Vote with your feet." Boycott their products, etc.; however companies like publicity, even negative boycotting publicity since it gets their name out there.

You would think that the models would protest but it's a paycheck and usually a nice fat one for rather "clean" work.

It's sad that we are rearing children to be independent and self-actualizing regardless of gender, and as of yet, it has little impact in raising the consciousness of society in general.

I admire smartly dressed women as much as anyone; but when it's used as "buy this product and you'll have babes like me swooning at your feet" mentality, it's just so SAD to see.

It's similar to the problem of infidelity. Women are crushed by infidelity (just as men are). What if all women said I would never do that to another woman? What if men said I would never do that to another man. What if we all said let's stop demeaning ourselves and others with our behavior.

It's all about self-respect and true altruism.

[Pax]

When my folks lived in FL I used to go to Bikeweek in Daytona with my brother and dad, I asked some of the gals that worked the booths why they would do it...basically a college gal can go to FL for one week and go home with $3000 to $5000 cash for serving drinks and bartending in a skimpy outfit. As more than one of the gals told me "if men are stupid enough to give me a huge tip while they stare at my boobs then I'm going to take advantage of it while I still have good looking boobs".

[Trek420]

Someone here has a tag line of "Vote with your feet." Boycott their products, etc.

That someone is me :) While I meant this as a pun on the saying "customers vote with their feet" means that "unhappy customers leave your business" not so much a boycott, they just leave :(

And it costs a company several times more to win that customer or group back then it does to gain new customers.

My footer is meant to PROMOTE TE's fabulous bipartisan line of cycling socks. :D :)

Pick a sock and wear 'em. Let's bike the vote!

[sfa]

cycling is for men and women. trade shows are not. if 99% of the people that went to cycling trade shows were women, rest assured, they'd cater to women...they'd do all the research necessary to lure the trade women to their booth.



Yup. Not many "booth babes" at craft/scrapbooking trade shows!

Sarah

[gnat23]

I'm still waiting for a pair of SIDI heeled pumps with cleats.

Come on, they're *almost* there as it is:
http://www.sidiusa.com/images/Genius55W_CarLuWhiCre-1_m.jpg

-- gnat! (I'd pose in those!)

[lph]

Yeah - I was thinking, isn't tight, short, shiny lycra bike gear "sexy" enough already over toned cyclist calves that they have to to fetch in bigchested models in hotpants instead?

[maillotpois]

I have a friend who owns a modeling agency which provides "podium girls" for bike races and motorsport events. It's a bit "interesting". They were at Interbike (she put up some pics on her Facebook), but they weren't affiliated with any manufacturer or anything. I think they were just there for the publicity themselves. They go to a lot of bike and motorcycle races.

Right or wrong, there's certainly a demand for this.

[NJBikeGal]

At the Philly Pro Race last year, one of the local bike shops had bogarted a whole section of Lemon Hill. All roped off and VIPed up, you could only cross the velvet rope upon invite. That's not the funny part though.

They were also raffelling (sp?) off a bike and selling the tickets to everyone who was not inside the velvet rope. Their salespeople, you ask? A couple of 20-something girls wearing underwear and tight-fitting cycling skin suits. Those of us who actually ride bikes found this hilarious and began quizzing the girls about the specs on the bike. The blank stares and the statment, "Oh, i don't know...I don't actually ride bikes." (said with a measure of disdain at the thought) were really side-splitting.

But it worked!

[PscyclePath]

they don't care about being sensitive to the social sensibilities of a minority group. they don't even care about the men there, directly! all they really care about is the money. and they'll do what they have to do in order to maximize exposure and profit.

it's not personal...it's business.

Statistics say that nowadays there's more of you guys than there is of us, so "minority" probably isn't the right word. "Disadvantaged," sometimes maybe, but not minority. But you're right that it's strictly about attracting attention and ultimately customer and advertising dollars/euros.

Nearly every single professional bike race employs the infamous "podium girls," whose job is to hold the flowers and sometimes a stuffed critter, and kiss the stage winner.

Me, I don't worry about it. I'm usually still out on the course hiding from the broom wagon when all that stuff goes on ;-)

[Trek420]

Bump! Hey guys, GT is giving away a Golden bike replete with matching girls!

You have to race and you only get to keep the girls and the bike if you win :rolleyes:

www.complex.com/blogs/2008/12/18/gt-golden-bike-winner-gets-hot-girl/

[Pedal Wench]

Ugh -- I head to Vegas in two weeks for the Consumer Electronics Show. Since I used to write for Mobile Entertainment and Car Stereo Review, I get to cover the car stereo section of the show. Most of the home theater/audio/video exhibits are very professional, but the car audio section is teaming with booth babes. Hate that. Actually, when I go to ask their salesfolks a serious question, they get all uncomfortable if we're anywhere near their booth babe. It's kinda fun watching them squirm. Yup. I'm mean.

[Zen]

Ahh, the simplicity of the reptilian brain.

That bike and a gold tooth...yeah:rolleyes:

[Trek420]

when I go to ask their salesfolks a serious question, they get all uncomfortable if we're anywhere near their booth babe. It's kinda fun watching them squirm. Yup. I'm mean.

Step awaaaay from the booth babe ;) :rolleyes: ;)

[Pedal Wench]

Step awaaaay from the booth babe ;) :rolleyes: ;)

:p:p

[smurfalicious]

Smurf, you're there - any feedback?

Ack, sorry I don't know how I missed this. Indeed I was there and the guys actually commented on the "disappointing" lack of booth babes. I wasn't too bothered by that. One booth had a girl who was relatively dressed but still oozing sex. There was some clothing maker who made "Daisy Dukes" out of bike shorts and sent not so cute girls out in them.

Other than that, not a lot of them this year. It's kind of a nice turn of events but as someone pointed out those shows are for the boys. The male to female ratio there is awfully skewed.

It bugs me that even in the bike industry typical attitudes towards women are still prevalent. I hate the ad that has a certain ripper of an MTB chica standing with her hips cocked, skin peeking out between her jersey and shorts and an expression that's more sexual than "I'm a bad a** mountain bike chick!"

Thank you kindly advertising agencies. Good to know that no matter how hard a woman can rip it up on the bike she has no more value than her looks.

There might have been more booth babes but in all honesty I was excited about the bike candy I didn't notice. I say vote with your dollars. Giordana's catalogue has a guy in just arm/leg warmers and gloves with his hands over his bits so they'll definitely be getting my money! Meow! Sorry, hypocritical but it did make me smile and I couldn't resist.


Ugh -- I head to Vegas in two weeks for the Consumer Electronics Show.

Awh, gotta love that show. You kind of have to expect a prevalence of booth babes when it's scheduled at the same time as the uh, "adult entertainment expo."

My total nerd friend somehow got a job doing QA for a porn site. His company is sending him to said expo, and he's taking his girlfriend.

[Pedal Wench]

See, I have no problem with the Adult Expo -- you know exactly what to expect. It's trying to do a professional job in a real-world situation that gets difficult.

[malkin]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1d/BoysAreStupid.jpg