Put Your Clothes On - You Are Under Arrest

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Not enough that people in Belgium are losing their appetite for cars (last we looked the market was down 11 percent), now people have even less reason to go to the Brussels motor show: Belgium’s equal opportunities minister Joelle Milquet asked carmakers to keep their product specialists fully dressed.

“A motor show is a place where you go with your family, we have to question the stereotypes we are passing on to children and young adults,” the minister wrote in a letter obtained by Reuters. The missive was allegedly prompted by lewd behavior on the part of some male visitors at last year’s event.

Belgian car federation Febiac, which organizes the annual event, said that following the letter it had asked carmakers to ensure appropriate dress at their stands.

Carmakers assured compliance. TTAC has obtained a preview image of models rehearsing for this year’s event.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Jan 08, 2013

    "The Beijing's Capital Ethics Development Office said on its website that the revealing clothing of some models at the 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition has had a "negative social impact." The office criticized the "vulgar publicity" surrounding the models. The exhibition's organizers were asked to correct the situation on Thursday to ensure that it does not happen again." So a Belgian government minister and China's one party state government are equally prudish. Discuss amongst yourselves.

  • Bucksnort Bucksnort on Jan 08, 2013

    It's amazing how many people thing only they can decide on freedom of speech and expression for others. In the U.S., the founding fathers never promised good taste.

    • See 1 previous
    • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Jan 09, 2013

      @catnapped Hah! As a guv'mint highway engineer, I was at an elementary school assembly of 7-9 year olds. When talking to them, I asked them, "You think adults are insane when it comes to kids, don't you?" I got an earful of comments about the irrational, petty responses from our childrens' adult overseers to perfectly normal kid behavior. When I think of "the children", I'm assured they're okay, but some of the adults they deal with need counseling, and possibly psychotropic medication.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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