The Truth About Booth Babes
As Detroit’s struggles prove, life is a fight for resources. If you can’t get enough resources, you die. Well, in Motown’s case, you receive massive taxpayer subsidies and then you die. Taking it down to the personal level, the resources needed for survival form what Abraham Maslow called “a hierarchy of needs.” The most basic of these are lumped together: air, water, food and sex. Yup, sex is at the bottom of the pyramid. So it’s no wonder that exhibitors at The North American International Show (NAIAS) pay young, attractive females to pose next to their vehicles. It appeals to the mostly male jobbing journos’ most basic needs (after securing shrimp), drawing their attention to the automakers’ vehicles. It’s effective, morally reprehensible and now, self-defeating.
The worldwide auto industry is undergoing a major makeover. For the last few years, government regulation, economics, media fashion and (arguably) public opinion have led to the de-Luztification of the business. In other words, the horsepower uber alles halo cars worshiped by GM’s septuagenarian head of product development as a young man are no longer the sine qua non of vehicular excellence. These days, environmental responsibility is the name of the game.
High gas prices or low, good times or bad, green is the new black. Imagine this year’s don’t call it The Detroit Auto Show without the new Toyota Prius and Honda Insight hybrids vying for primacy. Today’s auto shows are all about the mpgs and alt power. To wit: would NAIAS have welcomed former coach-builder (i.e. Mercedes SL and BMW 8-Series reskinner) Henrik Fisker on center stage if his sports sedan holstered a V12 engine rather than a hybrid “Q-Drive”? Clearly not.
Sure, sheetmetal queens like the Fisker Karma still get attention, regardless of their fuel efficiency. But again, these days, even the sleekest of the sleek are swathed in the mantle of federally-mandated planet protection. If the Cadillac Converj concept car has an engine underneath its stunning creases– which I highly doubt– it’s supposed to be GM’s forthcoming if not theoretical Voltec electric – gas hybrid powerplant.
“Time was the big auto show in Detroit was all about glamorous gas guzzlers on turntables,” NPR’s intro to an interview with Car Czar Bob Lutz interview pronounces. “and models pointing suggestively at fins and fenders. Not this year…”
Yes, this year. While the gas guzzlers are conspicuous by their absence, the booth babes are still there, undermining the automakers’ credibility. The media talk about NAIAS’ new found “austerity” and “de-glamorization.” The shrimp may be smaller, but the booth babes’ dresses are just as tight and revealing. And their presence reveals the truth about these taxpayer-funded cutbacks: the carmakers still don’t “get it.”
While I’m no fan of political correctness (hence the name of the website), the debate over the morality of using women to sell goods and services was fought over forty years ago. The “sexual objectification” of women was roundly, stridently and publicly denounced. The practice was defeated. Depicting women as mindless eye candy more-or-less whoring for a product joined racial stereotyping as one of those things you just don’t do.
In practice, society reached a compromise: women can be objects of sexual desire in sexual situations. A flexible concept to be sure, but easy enough to identify. Victoria’s Secret models, OK. Booth babes, no. (Beauty pageants, as always, lost in the middle.) In other words, draping nubile women over automobiles is a throwback to– and a carry-over from– an earlier, less sensitive time.
Whether they’re hawking EVs or SUVs (God forbid), booth babery illustrates and symbolizes the auto industry’s arrogant refusal to adapt to society’s needs. Well, norms.
As I’ve pointed out in previous years, booth babes are also self-defeating. They intimidate the average showgoer and discourage female attendance (for obvious reasons). By adorning cars with attractive girls who know little to nothing about the vehicle nearby, women who don’t work for the company producing the product, the manufacturer inhibits serious discussions about the car itself. In fact, the carmaker is showing an active disregard for anything other than the vehicles’ surface.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that TTAC fell into this same trap with a spate of cheerleader pictures, whose ironic intent– illustrating the automotive media’s attempt to “sex up” bad news– offended our audience. Commentators rightly pointed-out that the tits and ass snaps had nothing to do with TTAC’s core mission. It lowered the site’s tone and robbed us of the one thing we depend on for survival: our reputation. We admitted our mistake, ceased the practice and moved on.
It’s time for the “serious” car shows to lose the titillation. Not because it isn’t a welcome distraction from the hype, hot air and hypocrisy that surrounds the event. But because it is.
More by Robert Farago
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keep the booth babes and bring back the cheerleaders.
The last time I had this argument with someone, his retort was simply "Man, are you ever gay."