Slashdot Mirror
Company Takes Stand Against Booth Babes
Swank1 writes "At this year's E3 (May 17-20) Agetec will launch its Anti Booth Babe campaign. Believing that booth babes take attention away from the games, Agetec wants to change the focus back to where it should be. They plan on doing this not by refusing to have booth babes, but instead by hiring ten unattractive women to work their booth. Agetec, a producer of video games and hardware for console systems, has launched AntiBoothBabes.com to get their idea going. Right now the site is just a splash page and a sign-up form for a free T-shirt, but the real fun will come at the Expo. In Los Angeles, during the convention, Agetec's anti-babes will be handing out 'Granny Panties' with Agetec's logo on it. An article discribes the initiative at XYZ Computing."
I feel sorry for the people who have do the hiring, and those who will be hired to do it. First, having to decide if someone is really that ugly, and, being told that you are ugly enough to do it. People these days are so superficial...
This is just as degrading to women as Booth Babes. At least the Booth Babes can go back to their jobs stripping or doing BangBros videos when the expo is over. These "ugly" women get hired for being "ugly" and doesn't that just boost the old self esteem?
This is crap. And by saying things like this, I can hopefully score some points with these "ugly" ladies. I'm desperate. And lonely. Somebody call me? Please?
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
You better pick "dudes" to be your booth babes, or be paying the girls a hell of a lot. Any girl that would be a "mediocre" booth babe is not someone you want to have pimping your merchandise. They don't even have the self-confidence to sell themselves let alone your shit. Way to go, morons. Wouldn't it have just been easier to not hire....anybody?
schild
editor, f13.net
Booth babes are there to attract attention to the booth in general. Once you have their attention - period - then you immediately divert it to the games there.
... hmm. Who is Agetec, actually? I can't think of anything they've done. ::Googles:: Oh, Armored Core. I did play that game. It was ... OK.
The booth babes are soley there to get people (well, men...) to come to the booth in the first place. Once the person gets there then the booth babe acts as spokes-person and shows off whatever the company is actually showing.
Agetec is, I guess, hoping that women's libbers and some press hype will get people to come. Or something.
Of course, when I think Agetec, I think
I notice how it's still women that they are hiring. If they really wanted to make a statement, they'd have a mixture of men and women.
But I suspect this is just a "look at us, we're controversial!" publicity stunt. And hey, they got a Slashdot story, so it's working.
They plan on doing this not by refusing to have booth babes, but instead by hiring ten unattractive woman to work their booth.
And I'm sure those ten women were flattered when they said, "We want to hire you because you're ugly."
"The newly born animals are then whisked off for a quick run through a giant baking oven." --heard on Food Network
We want to put the attention on the games so we created this attention grabbing gimmick to do so.
Who cares if, for a few trade shows, male (and possibly some female gamers I guess) oggle boobies?
No sig for you!!
Yeah, because non-nerd events like car shows and football games don't have anything of the sort, right?
I agree it's silly, but it's got nothing to do with the nerdicity of the event.
Hillary Rosen.
I rest my case.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
That's not only an insult, it's also discrimination. How about just hiring people who are qualified for the job?
Employing booth babes is a classic marketing strategy used to draw attention to your booth.
This news isn't about sticking up for women or not treating them as objects, it's just a twist on the strategy. They're in fact still treating women as objects to further their own advancement. How is this any better?
Their claim of "putting the focus back on the games" is bullshit. If that were the case, they would have just not hired "ugly women" (their quote, not mine) and not made mention of their anti-booth-babes stance.
All this is is a press stunt to get some extra attention apart from all the other vendors using booth babes.
-David
It amazes me how bad technical people are at marketing. They apparently didn't see the possibility that their idea could be bad for the company.
This is stupid I can't believe that slashdot posted it, this attention grab is more insulting and hurtful to women than booth babes are.
Just don't post dumb stories like this.
---
I support spreading santorum
Booth "KnowSomethingAboutTheProduct"s?
I mean it. What I would love to see at an expo is someone at the booth that I can talk to about the product at hand. Sure, its nice to have beautiful women standing around, but it isnt going to make me any more likely to buy the company's product.
When I first saw booth-babes, I thought it were some sort of sex-industry show. I think this would NEVER happened in Norway, and I was a little disappointed when I realized that it was for real.
World, the time has come to stop using girls to attract attention!
...considering that a "booth babe" is the closest most game geeks will ever come to having an actual date!
Well, I will. I know it's a huge sacrifice, but dammit, someone's gotta step up to the plate here. If there are any former booth babes out there who need someone to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on, or a bed to sleep in, I'm completely available.
That is, I will be - as soon as my wife reads this post. :-/
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
Find 'booth babes'(tm) who actually know something about gaming! AMAZING! I have met a few (albiet not many) women who are avid gamers. Some are attractive. They exist, so why not spend a little more money on finding and hiring those who know the product.
If car shows didnt have reps who knew their shit, the company they worked for would be pumled by angry consumers, consumers who refused to purchase that product due to poor representation. Same should be done here.
"this is the gloaming"
radiohead
My friend saw the video that this article is talking about... umm, and I have to say that if there are young women in Norway that are wiling to do THAT, there's probably more than a few that wouldn't mind being a booth babe. Just dare them to and give them a test afterwards ;).
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
when you can surf for porn at work.
nice one!
The whole booth babe thing never did much for me anyway. Sure, I admire a pleasingly beautiful or cute face, but I am not attracted to the typical "babe" of recent times. Our society seems very focused on average ideals -- in other words, what most want. Outside the porn industry, there is very little attention given to preferences that fall outside of this average. Obviously, it's not ecomocially viable for the big players to stray from the norm and lose sales, but a smaller company could create a name for itself not so much by picking ugly women, but by picking women (or men) attractive to a different prefence. I, for one, would love to see heavier women. Yes, I would definitely hang around that booth more. Just my thing though.
I guess what I'm saying is that booths are about as bland as games are today. Where is the innovation? The genuinely different stuff? Like SimCity or The Sims? The gaming industry today is about as exciting as the collective works of the RIAA.
Be relentless!
It's because a majority of women aren't smart enough or interesting enough to appreciate how awesome video games are.
There is a basic flaw in their reasoning, which is to assume that everybody likes the "booth babe" type. Here's a hint: some guys like mature women, some guys like full women. Some guys even like guys, from androgynous boyish looks to furry bears. And some of the audience is women, straight women even, who would be physically more attracted by any male booth staff (although might still generally prefer chatting with female booth staff).
Hire people for personality, not looks, and you'll do well. And most people with the right personality for customer contacts will also know how to dress appropriately for the event and their body type. Of course, if you force everybody into some ridiculous booth outfit (skin tight pink T-shirts, etc.), then many people will look bad.
Hiring "unattractive" women doesn't necessarily mean anything. I mean, come on. Here's an idea. Hire actual geeks. Both men and women. A woman who can talk to me about the evolution of role-playing games is ten times more attractive to me than some test tube blonde with implants whose gaming knowledge extends to Ms. Pacman. Hell, she might even make me buy want to buy their game. Having a passionate developer manning (personing?) the booth would be even better.
Instead of beign an "anti" movement, they ought to be "for" something that is lacked by placing an emphasis on appearance. Otherwise, it's just a publicity stunt...like booth babes.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
...so they couldn't just hire women, could they? They have to divide us up into "dumb but hot" or "smart but ugly".
This is why I'll always have negative opinions about the gaming industry - it makes me feel completely worthless.
"Real Games. Real People?"
So what's more offensive? Being paying to stand around to be gawked by geeks because of your better-than-average-good-looks or being told by a website your not a "real person."
That said, I really don't see what the problem is. These women are getting paid to dress up in some costume, look hot, and maybe poss with people or pass out promotional material. They are there on their own volition. They aren't being any more exploited than a game designer is being exploited for his creativity. Modeling is just like any other job that requires a certain amount of inate ability. It just so happens that this ability is to look attractive. So to summarize, if these women are being exploited then so is everyone else that voluntarily goes into a career field that needs their abilities.
-Shawn "If the Name Don't Rhyme It Ain't Mine" Conn
I think you didn't read the grandparent comment: "I feel sorry for the people who have do the hiring, and those who will be hired to do it. First, having to decide if someone is really that ugly, and, being told that you are ugly enough to do it."
Maybe it will work as you say. But that was not the point of my comment. The point was that I can think of many directions the company's idea can take that will be bad for the company.
For example, maybe people will walk by the booth to see the company's idea of ugly, and then be embarrassed to talk with anyone in the booth.
The point is not whether the company will become better known. The point is whether people will be motivated to buy. Another point is whether there will be any major problems with the marketing. For example, will people call the company and ask the receptionist if she is ugly?
Some people don't think about what happens beneath the social surface.
1. Fire your booth babes.
2. Hire ugly people as replacements
3.
4. No Profit!!!
The game sucks. If they need to do a stupid marketing stunt like this, clearly the game is lacking. Plus, they aren't addressing the problem, they're simply puting a few booth babes out of work for the week.
They have to divide us up into "dumb but hot" or "smart but ugly".
/.'ers can hope to achieve (or at least, approach and attempt communication with, without mutating into incoherent, sweaty, bundles of nerves).
Most of us can't get so much as a date with women who are "dumb but hot" OR "smart but ugly" (due to coming across as "weird and creepy").
Women who are "hot AND smart" arn't considered by the community because they are clearly out of our league, which is perhaps why that category come up very often (except for those of us with an excessive amount of hubris, or for those with an excessive bank balance).
I rather suspect that members of the opposite sex who are "dumb and ugly" are probably the top end of what most
However, last time I heard, she was doing web-design, so she may not have the time to become the stereotype breaking - Hot but Game Guru Girl....
R.
When there are a few booth babes hanging out in a booth you slow down and look. In effort to make it appear that you are not ogling the babes you look at the literature and demos. Now you know something and have invested time, so you are more likely to buy.
This might not apply to you personally, but it applies to most guys. That is all they care about.
No, actually it's because the majority of women don't realize that most geeks have big cocks and are love doctors in bed. Word.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Ford's commercial for the Mercury version of the 500 has a chick in a tight shirt, tight capri pants, and sexy little shoes jumping around the car talking about how great it is. And a little birdie told me she wasn't hired for her detailed knowledge of her automobile enthusiasm. Same with vacations and cruises, McDonald's salads, investment banks, cable news, clothing department stores, etc. Sex sells. And it's not just women. Men are used to sell romance novels, "romantic comedy" films (chick flicks), country music, etc.
I think it's time we grew up and just recognized that sex is a part of our lives, a part we like, and stop trying to live like Puritans. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play Wolfenstein with the Elite Guard, read FHM, and stop by an auto show to pick up some flyers from the competent ladies at the Yugo booth.
jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
All that stamina training I tell yah.
What are they THINKING? The booth babes are half the reason you go to E3! To get pictures taken with them and play video games with them!
For our booth, we are hiring 10 male strippers freshly shaven, and sprayed down with PAM. This will surely make people passing by look at our game!
With a tag line like, "Anti Booth Babes. real People, real Games." It is clear to us that the PR staff at reverbinc.com are either militant feminazis or homosexuals.
They are Booth Betties. If they don't just scan your badge, but actually regurgitate some marketing speech, particularly while standing within 10 feet of a flat screen and wearing a microphone, then they are Demo Dollies.
I for one wouldn't mind standing against a booth babe...
So discrimination based on how someone looks isn't discrimination because it's not in the laws? My bad, I'm thinking spirit, not letter of the law. Aside from that I don't frequent trade shows, so I've been under the impression that this whole concept was women pitching a sales product, while looking pretty for the customer. The last trade show I went to was small, didn't feature any booth babes at all, and was largely a waste of time. Picked up a job offer at least, that's about all it did for me.
...these "anti-babes" at Agetec's booth will be hot, right?
A better way to end the "pretty" bias is to do interviews for booth attendants with a blind between the interviewer and interviewee. Think The Dating Game here. Have all the interviews reviewed and pick the women based on their verbal charisma and knowledge.
Some will be pretty, even so! Most will be ordinary, and some may be ugly, but at least you can say with a clear conscience that you hired the best ones for the job.
I'm not really sure that this is the intent of booth attendees. Let's face it, the best way to explain your game is to have it playable. The people at the booths are usually paid actors to be standing adverts for the company. E3 is about information AND entertainment. Beautiful people are more entertaining that ordinary ones.
This would make excellent thesis materiel for Social Psychology undergrads. One booth has product and no spokespeople, one with product and knowledgeable spokespeople of common stock, one with product and "babes" that don't speak at all, and one that gives all visitors a crisp $5 bill.
We'll know they're serious if the president of the company puts his wife in the booth. That would be interesting.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Great way to market yourself. Hand something out no one will want to touch.
If you read the article, it says they are hiring women to staff their booth for their skills and interest rather than their appearance.
It does NOT say they are hiring women specifically because they are unattractive. Whether or not they are attractive just isn't the issue.
I think many, many commenters missed that part, including the original editor who posted the story.
Writing is the only socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. (E. L. Doctorow)
I think must have dated the Moderator (at least I made an impression \o/).