4 ms·

I'm not sure if I'm in the minority here but I always find the concept of booth babes awkward as hell. Just the idea of interacting with someone who's been pai

by philk 16y ago

I'm not sure if I'm in the minority here but I always find the concept of booth babes awkward as hell. Just the idea of interacting with someone who's been paid to endure my company seems rather unpleasant.

ant5 16y ago
I concur; nothing will put me off a booth more than the feeling that they've hired the conference equivalent of a stripper. What's your name? What do you do? Would you like a dance? What's your name? What do you do? Would you like to find out more about our F5 internet appliances? Being sold something by an attractive woman with an ulterior motive raises my hackles and causes me to put up my guard. I'm certainly not going to be receptive to the sales pitch.
jgrahamc 16y ago
I agree. In the early 1990s I was working at a company where I spent a lot of time on the road with sales guys. One time I had to take a customer to a strip club as part of landing a deal. Both the customer and the sales guy (who was going to expense the trip) were really happy to be there. As part of being a team player, I had to have a lap dance. Sitting in a chair having a woman shove her breasts in my face after paying her was simply horrid. I remember feeling physically sick.
- eli 16y ago
  Yeah, that's pretty awful. Probably why it's illegal.
  - goatforce5 16y ago
    Strip clubs and lap dances are legal in plenty of places. Heck, even escort services and prostitution are legal in some places.
    - eli 16y ago
      Pressuring an employee to participate in a lap dance, however, is not.
- eli 16y ago
  Yeah, that's pretty awful. Probably why it's illegal.
- philk 16y ago
  Urgh. That sounds rather awful. Out of interest, why were the customer and sales guy so pleased to be there? Was there any rationalization going on[1], or did they just see tits and not think any further? [1] ie "I think that one really liked me"
  - jgrahamc 16y ago
    I don't know. Maybe the liked having boobs shoved in their faces. This was something that the customer specifically requested that we do for him, and he was well known in the place. So, I guess he liked it. But, yes, I do recall some rationalization or at least attempts to 'connect' with the women.
- starkfist 16y ago
  I have to say, the reason why strip clubs exist in the first place is because many (most?) men have the opposite reaction.
  - jgrahamc 16y ago
    I agree. Perhaps the set of men who are heterosexual and don't enjoy lap dances is small.
    - Tichy 16y ago
      I am certainly no expert on the subject, but I think the quality of the experience can also vary a lot, depending on the location and women involved.
    - qw 16y ago
      I would like a lap dance, but I would feel uncomfortable paying for it. I'd probably feel a lot of guilt afterwards. Who wants to be the "creepy guy I had to give a lap dance to so that I could feed my children"?
Jun8 16y ago
Oh, so many comments come to mind! I'll just write two: (i) BB's are not paid to "endure your company", they are there just to attract the average conference/trade show attendee who happens to be a 30+ year old male. Now, you may find this objectionable, but then why stop at BBs; you should then object to all advertising, which by default use the same strategy. You should object to Danica Patrick and other GoDaddy girls. You should not drink beers that use provocative women in their advertising (that would be very few). You should not use Old Spice (their sexist marketing campaign was touted as "brilliant" just yesterday on HN) or Axe because they use similar approaches. (ii) Think about it: Saying BB = stripper (as other people have written here) is the kind of generalization that you are objecting to. How is this different than the despicable notion that women attendees to these events somehow know less than male attendees? You are judging by the cover only. Have you actually talked to any of these girls? Edit: Downvoters, please try to tell me why you think I'm wrong. Do you think females are not used in other advertising in this fashion? Do you think all BBs are strippers? Do you find my language objectionable? THINK! Then downvote.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- michael_dorfman 16y ago
  Regarding point (i) above: personally, I'm not terribly impressed by advertisers who attempt to sexualize things that are not inherently sexual in order to get my attention. Beer ads, Go Daddy and Evony banners are all equally skeevy in my book. Axe is a bit more understandable-- their marketing premise is that their fragrance will make you more attractive to women (which, while most likely false, is at least on the verge of plausibility). However, I really have to object when you lump the Old Spice Twitter/YouTube campaign in with that. The fact that the actor in the Old Spice commercial was buff and topless was only a minor factor in the overall scheme of things. With Go Daddy and Evony, if you remove the breasts, there's nothing much left. With Old Spice, there was still a whole lot of win. As for point (ii): it's been well over a decade since I've been to a trade show, but back in the day, there was no pretense that the "booth babes" had any knowledge of (or interest in) the product. They were there to be eye candy, pure and simple. Any other skills on their part was purely fortuitous. (For the record, I didn't downvote you, btw).
theycallmemorty 16y ago
Isn't every sales person paid to endure your company? Maybe I don't really understand what a booth babe is.
Tichy 16y ago
In theory I agree with you, on the other hand they tend to be hot and they are human beings after all. Maybe while they are paid to do it, they don't mind having a good time on their job. It's a similar problem with waitresses (some places). But many waitresses I talked to actually enjoy their jobs and do occasionally make friends among customers.

by philk 16y ago

ant5 16y ago

I concur; nothing will put me off a booth more than the feeling that they've hired the conference equivalent of a stripper. What's your name? What do you do? Would you like a dance? What's your name? What do you do? Would you like to find out more about our F5 internet appliances? Being sold something by an attractive woman with an ulterior motive raises my hackles and causes me to put up my guard. I'm certainly not going to be receptive to the sales pitch.

jgrahamc 16y ago

I agree. In the early 1990s I was working at a company where I spent a lot of time on the road with sales guys. One time I had to take a customer to a strip club as part of landing a deal. Both the customer and the sales guy (who was going to expense the trip) were really happy to be there. As part of being a team player, I had to have a lap dance. Sitting in a chair having a woman shove her breasts in my face after paying her was simply horrid. I remember feeling physically sick.

eli 16y ago
Yeah, that's pretty awful. Probably why it's illegal.
- goatforce5 16y ago
  Strip clubs and lap dances are legal in plenty of places. Heck, even escort services and prostitution are legal in some places.
  - eli 16y ago
    Pressuring an employee to participate in a lap dance, however, is not.
eli 16y ago
Yeah, that's pretty awful. Probably why it's illegal.
philk 16y ago
Urgh. That sounds rather awful. Out of interest, why were the customer and sales guy so pleased to be there? Was there any rationalization going on[1], or did they just see tits and not think any further? [1] ie "I think that one really liked me"
- jgrahamc 16y ago
  I don't know. Maybe the liked having boobs shoved in their faces. This was something that the customer specifically requested that we do for him, and he was well known in the place. So, I guess he liked it. But, yes, I do recall some rationalization or at least attempts to 'connect' with the women.
starkfist 16y ago
I have to say, the reason why strip clubs exist in the first place is because many (most?) men have the opposite reaction.
- jgrahamc 16y ago
  I agree. Perhaps the set of men who are heterosexual and don't enjoy lap dances is small.
  - Tichy 16y ago
    I am certainly no expert on the subject, but I think the quality of the experience can also vary a lot, depending on the location and women involved.
  - qw 16y ago
    I would like a lap dance, but I would feel uncomfortable paying for it. I'd probably feel a lot of guilt afterwards. Who wants to be the "creepy guy I had to give a lap dance to so that I could feed my children"?

Jun8 16y ago

Oh, so many comments come to mind! I'll just write two: (i) BB's are not paid to "endure your company", they are there just to attract the average conference/trade show attendee who happens to be a 30+ year old male. Now, you may find this objectionable, but then why stop at BBs; you should then object to all advertising, which by default use the same strategy. You should object to Danica Patrick and other GoDaddy girls. You should not drink beers that use provocative women in their advertising (that would be very few). You should not use Old Spice (their sexist marketing campaign was touted as "brilliant" just yesterday on HN) or Axe because they use similar approaches. (ii) Think about it: Saying BB = stripper (as other people have written here) is the kind of generalization that you are objecting to. How is this different than the despicable notion that women attendees to these events somehow know less than male attendees? You are judging by the cover only. Have you actually talked to any of these girls? Edit: Downvoters, please try to tell me why you think I'm wrong. Do you think females are not used in other advertising in this fashion? Do you think all BBs are strippers? Do you find my language objectionable? THINK! Then downvote.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
michael_dorfman 16y ago
Regarding point (i) above: personally, I'm not terribly impressed by advertisers who attempt to sexualize things that are not inherently sexual in order to get my attention. Beer ads, Go Daddy and Evony banners are all equally skeevy in my book. Axe is a bit more understandable-- their marketing premise is that their fragrance will make you more attractive to women (which, while most likely false, is at least on the verge of plausibility). However, I really have to object when you lump the Old Spice Twitter/YouTube campaign in with that. The fact that the actor in the Old Spice commercial was buff and topless was only a minor factor in the overall scheme of things. With Go Daddy and Evony, if you remove the breasts, there's nothing much left. With Old Spice, there was still a whole lot of win. As for point (ii): it's been well over a decade since I've been to a trade show, but back in the day, there was no pretense that the "booth babes" had any knowledge of (or interest in) the product. They were there to be eye candy, pure and simple. Any other skills on their part was purely fortuitous. (For the record, I didn't downvote you, btw).

theycallmemorty 16y ago

Isn't every sales person paid to endure your company? Maybe I don't really understand what a booth babe is.

Tichy 16y ago

In theory I agree with you, on the other hand they tend to be hot and they are human beings after all. Maybe while they are paid to do it, they don't mind having a good time on their job. It's a similar problem with waitresses (some places). But many waitresses I talked to actually enjoy their jobs and do occasionally make friends among customers.