Microsoft gets Speedos in a twist over half-naked 'Meter Maids' Microsoft has upset a bunch of bikini-clad Aussie “Meter Maids”, after a promotional stunt backfired on the company. The Sydney Morning Herald reported today that Microsoft had hired the women to appear at its TechEd conference on the Gold Coast. Some of the 2,700 attendees at the event grumbled that the half-naked ladies' …
The posters for these swim trunks and Speedo-like swim briefs for men have stopped women in their tracks. I have seen this myself.
Trouble is, advertising IT with a strapping Aussie lad as bait, or having them trotting around a convention in their skivvies, would only lead to crashing disappointment once the IT women turned up on the job, to find the usual suspects in place, and probably seated next to the hygiene-shy mouth-breather who likes extra anchovy on his pizzas.
Then I suspect Mac would have send some sleek-looking women whom everyone privately desired.
However, they'd have significant disadvantages: (please ignore the rest of this post as I am now obliged to refer to exactly how you're allowed to touch the items in question and how many fingers you're supposed to use when you do it).
....with apologies to Ms Bee., who's bound to get all the flack if she lets this one go.
Microsoft managed to get more publicity for its dollar with this stunt. It's all over the newspapers. You can't buy publicity like that.
I personally agree with the theme of the conference that more women should be working in IT. Specifically, I want to see more women in gold bikinis working in IT.
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Ahhh that old chesnut. Proberly not, they just think you're a slimey, sad loser. Thats why they turn you down for drinks and offers of lunch dates.
The (few) women in our dept, about 50% are hotties and straight. The others are ok. Which I'm sure is a higher looker to minger ratio than us guys here.
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After hearing so many stories of how Microsoft warps things into One Microsoft Way( their street adress ) style, I wonder why any press org even attempts quoting them.
If they had their own Babel fish, it would have some kind of direct link to a Public Relations filter so that every word spoken was twisted into PR-speak with a requirement for no more than 5% truthfulness.
Seriously, they tried to claim they didn't know what they were going to be wearing? That's right, I now recall them telling a Federal Judge they hadn't edited a courtroom video for days until the prosecution proved they lied by noticing icons on the desktop changed throughout the video.
Way to go Microsoft, still acting like the same company after all these years.
Catch is that would attract only straight/bisexual women and gay/bisexual men. What you really need is a mix of both men and women in swimwear, with a ratio similar to that of straight to lesbian women in the populace. Bisexual women should be counted towards both totals for the sake of fairness.
... that the generally youthful, overwhelmingly male ("One of the key talks at the conference had been a discussion about getting more women to join the IT industry...") IT crowd would be interested in gawking, er, uh, looking at scantily clad women.
I am so disgusted by this I'd like to learn more, to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, yeah, that's it.
How about a link to the pictures from other angles?
...and I don't mean the morality of using minimally attired ladies.
I mean the morality of lying, erroneosly blaming the innocent, lying again and then only coming clean when they have been proven to be lying.
Think about that next time you read a microsoft statement or denial.
<icon of pants on fire>
...most men will dribble and go yes miss and happily accept the fine. Oh the other half out with hubby will take ticket and tell him to hurry up get in car, thus preventing him slobbering on his shoes. As for the ladys.
Meter Maid: Here's your fine, btw, luurve you shoes..
Woman: Bitc...really? Do you like them? Ok. Ticket you say...Thanks.
In the UK you get some jumped up little hitler (ooo is that allowed these days?) that you just want to punch in the face. So you spend 50 minutes shouting and trying to make them see sense about your bumber being 1nm over the line.
See whats works best.
for many years now, the shire council of the gold coast has
promoted its tourism friendliness by employing bikini-clad
woman to pop coins in expired parking meters, so that
tourists having a good time don't have to worry about
parking fines. not knowing whether you have to have an
interstate plate to qualify one cannot say whether this is
of direct fiduciary benefit to the locals, but the on-going
stunt has generated a ship-load of publicity over the years.
paris because ronaldo the dermo-technician's post
about her post-chiropractic visit to the beauty parlor
for a facial and brow-waxing missed yesterdays cut...
For the record, the IT Girls I know would have enjoyed the event, although some Gold Coast boys (Manpower? Thunder from Down Under?) should probably have been likewise involved in the name of fairness. The Gold Coast is called 'BrisVEGAS' for a reason!)
Seeing as MS chose the outfits (Classic!) but in other news articles around the world are claiming ignorance (ie News.com.au) sounds like a few people at Gatesworld are panicking in the PR backpedalling...
Am I the only male who not only agrees that women are indeed objectified when sent in swimwear to these events, but that the companies who hire them seriously stereotype their (male) customers, too?
Personally, I find it a complete turn-off and tend to avoid going to the stands where these occur.
For the record: Married twice, 4 kids. It's not as if I don't appreciate the fairer sex. :-)
I entirely agree with him.
Of course it objectifies women. By definition, the women employed by this team are being selected PURELY on the basis of their looks - they have to stand around and look good in bikinis. That's objectification, pure and simple.
And yes - I frankly find it embarrassing to see women like this at trade shows - or anywhere else except at the beach or hotel swimming pool, in all honesty.
I thought this sort of thing went out in the seventies.
"Microsoft told the newspaper that it was "unaware of their exact costuming until the day of the event, at which time it was too late to be addressed"."
So, an *Australian* arm of MS holds a conference in the *Gold Coast* with an appearance by the *Meter Maids* and they claim they didn't know what they were getting?(1)
Bullshit. The Gold Coast Meter Maids are (in)famous ever since their introduction.
Historical Note: For those of you who don't live in Oz, the Meter Maids were originally a scheme thought up by the Gold Coast retailers. They would walk around in their gold bikinis and "top up" any parking meter that were about to expire. Hence their name. They have since been discontinued, but their legacy lives on via the current "Meter Maid" eye-candy outfit.
(1) yeah, yeah, I know they've since admitted their stupidity. My flabber is just gasted that they even *tried* the old "who? us?" routine in the first place.
Well I have to say I like nothing better than a nice bit of objectification. I mean, people are way too uptight about these things nowadays, amirite? I find it's a bit awkward to objectify myself, but I try to do my bit by wearing tight t-shirts with risque slogans on them, and having low self-esteem.
"people are way too uptight about these things nowadays, amirite?"
Speaking as the anon of the original post: I don't think I'm being uptight about it. Just uncomfortable. I don't feel I try to push my thinking onto other people, but I do walk away from it myself.
I also happen to think that there's a world of difference between choosing to wear tight t-shirts every now and then for your own sake, and being paid for dressing up in a bikini to promote a product you know nothing about and don't understand.
...but eventually Sarah Bee chimed in.
Thank you for a clear insight into your irreprehensible stance.
Now we need the support of pictures, y'know m'lady, to address our morale around Your Supreme Highness.
Don't be so sarcastic, female (and male!) beauty has always been used to make the world a better and nicer place, singe Greeks' and Romans' times, with beautiful statues of naked bodies decorating private homes, streets and buildings.
Many other world renown and celebrated artists have portrayed naked bodies, and they are proudly on show in the most prestigious art galleries and museums throughout the world.
What is wrong with Anglo-Saxon derivative cultures that see a naked body as a shame, a disgrace, demeaning and wrong?
Get your facts right, y'all: we're all born naked.
P.S. BTW it's "risqué", it's French, and without the accent is the USofA spelling.
While we're at it, I looked very carefully, they were definitely far more than half naked. I'd say closer to 9/10ths.
Forget the objectified bullshit. I would sell my soul to be able to supplement my income by wearing skimpy swimwear in public. The ladies were all paid for their time as well I'm sure. Wouldn't it be objectifying them to tell them "even though you obviously put a lot of effort (and in some cases money) into shaping your body for the purpose of employment, it's wrong to accept payment for wearing clothing that makes people enjoy looking at you.". If anything, they're the women who are taking charge realizing that they can get ahead in life by using their "gifts" to get paid well while generally taking life easy.
That said, my wife and I are going to a concert this evening with a former sports illustrated swimsuit cover model and we're both looking forward to speaking with her about how well her successful businesses (which employee quite a few people) that she started by wearing skimpy bathing suits "objectifying her" are working out. Ohh... former super model turned successful entrepreneur doesn't work for your "objectifying women" theory?
So what - people ARE sexual beings, not self dividing bacteria.
MS - being as stupid as ever, failed to cater for the gay and some of the bi elements of the audience by tossing in a ...... tossing in a heap of scantily clad men....
"Jesus - he was scantily clad!"
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