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Look, I know what you're thinking, that this is just another one of my faintly tacky attempts to lure traffic to Flares via titillating subject matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, this post is a powerful expose that rips the veil off of booth babery and reveals its steamy underbelly!
The IT World article The life of a 'booth babe': high heels, long hours and leering visitors (via Slashdot), tells it all. Below are some of the sordid details about booth babery, but be warned -- what you read may shock you:
On Wednesday, Lee was holding a smartphone outside mobile chip maker Nvidia's booth, a fake tattoo of the company's name stamped below her left shoulder blade.Looking happy and smiling all day? The horror. Alas, it gets worse...
On average, Computex models make $100 to $170 for about 8 hours of work, she said, while models at other shows can make as little as $60. Lee decided to model at Computex for the money, after working in the modeling industry part-time for four years, in music videos and commercials. This year's show will be her last, because she's taking a job as a product manager at a biotech company that produces cosmetics and health products.
"It takes a lot of energy, because you stand for a long time," she said. During her eight hour day, Lee stands for 30 minutes holding a product, then takes a 10-minute rest and repeats the process. "You have to look happy all day and smile, but it's not that easy," she said. "It gets very tiring."
Some models at Computex work full-time in the modeling industry, such as Regina Xue, 23, who was promoting PC vendor Micro-Star International by handing out plastic fans to visitors. "People think we are doing nothing and just daydreaming, but it's very difficult," she said. "You have to meet a lot of people."Gadzooks! Standing, smiling, meeting people, skimpy costumes and getting gawked at by goofballs at trade shows, who could ever imagine that would be a booth babe's lot? To paraphrase Captain Renault, "I'm shocked, shocked to find that ogling is going on in here!"
She hoped that visitors would respect her profession. "This is a job for us, we just wear less," said Xue, who was in a blue mini-skirt and top. "We are doing real work."
The booth babe pictures are of the Computex 2010 show and are from the website Bjorn3D. There are more there if you want to research this travesty further.
Hellooooo visitors from Instapundit!
11 comments:
So that's what "blowin the lid off" something is all about!
Just for reality check, I have worked booths at trade shows before. It is hard work standing all day and being cheerful. Especially when a GOMB(get out of my booth)drops by. Of course I had to set the booth up before the show and tear it down after the show as well. I kinda doubt these ladies have to do the heavy lifting.
Breaking gun safety rule #1 in picture five.
Of course I'd like to muzzle sweep most of them!
In my day, son, we called 'em Vannas.
"It is hard work standing all day and being cheerful"
Yea, many years ago when i was but a young pup I had a good friend who was a working model. The job she hated the most was being a human mannequin.
She had to freeze in place, which was bad enough, but people were also poking her all day long to see if she was real.
I recall a certain car show where Yasmine Bleeth was featured. She had some older Russian Babuska as an assistant. A friend walked up and after squinting for a few minutes and within 10 feet of them said in a very loud voice: "Okay, Which one is Yasmine!"
Priceless.
It must be difficult to look cheerful and smile for eight hours.
Possibly they could do that for the first four hours, then switch to S&M leathers and look mean and bossy for the last 4 hours.
You've clearly never stood in a booth all day if you think it's easy.
"I know what you're thinking, that this is just another one of my faintly tacky attempts to lure traffic to Flares via titillating subject matter."
Well, I for one am glad you did not dissapoint me. It is noce to see a little truth in advertizing now and then.
Well, I definitely wasn't a booth babe and I really didn't qualify as a booth stud, but I agree by the third day of the convention, just standing in the booth and being pleasant got old.
being a middle-aged fat guy, I've done this (thankfully not recently) and it's nowhere near as easy as it looks. Convention centers are typically floored with bare concrete, and even if you get to sit every once in a while, after 8 hours your feet are swollen and feel as if someone's been pounding on your soles with a sledgehammer. That was in running shoes.
Imagine doing it in high heels. It sounds lame, but you *are* lame after three days of it...
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