At CeBIT in Sydney in May 2009, Australian domain name provider NetRegistry used women in nurses uniforms as booth babes to promote their product, an example of sexist advertising which generated negative comment on Twitter.
There were also isolated reports of additional vendors and events promoting themselves with attractive women in (to say the least) non-technical roles. Pia Waugh reported [1]:
- Hadn't noticed this #cebit #fail - @Opheli8 RT: Anyone noticed the planned oktoberfest event with "Gorgeous Fräuleins"? http://bit.ly/3UTz5
A commenter on a locked Facebook page asked:
- I would have thought the SMS Global girls would cause more of a stir than the Netregistry ones. It really seems to have worked against the exhibitors with booth babes this year though [...]
Coverage
- ZDNet summarises the reaction on Twitter. Note that Pia Waugh may be misrepresented, she does appear to be critical of the use of booth babes in and of itself in this tweet: [2] and clarifies her question about male nurses [3]
- Raena Jackson Armitage reveals the NetRegistry nurses campaign was part of a metaphor of good technical service being like cosmetic surgery: There's more to NetRegistry's naughty nurses
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