ASUS' 'Rear' Tweet Puts Sexism Front And Center
This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Rhiannon12866 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).
Source: Huffington Post
What's worse than hiring scantily-clad "booth babes" to show off gadgets at an electronics conference populated mostly by men?
Sending lascivious tweets about their appearance from the official company account. Which is precisely what Taiwanese hardware maker ASUS has just done.
ASUS' post, which smacks of sexism, shows a photo, taken from behind, of a shapely woman displaying ASUS' Transformer AIO tablet to a crowd of men and encourages followers to check out the woman's "pretty nice" looking "rear" (See the tweet below).
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/asus-rear-tweet_n_1567696.html
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randome
(34,845 posts)No big deal, IMO. It's no worse than what you'd find on DU on just about any given day.
TheWraith
(24,331 posts)"That's a nice looking backside. And the woman doesn't look bad either."
high density
(13,397 posts)It seems the model in question is not offended that somebody is looking at her rear and commenting on it. Rather, this is just another one of those ridiculous offense by proxy sort of things.
If pretty women shouldn't be used to sell things then ASUS is hardly the first offender here.
DaveJ
(5,023 posts)Putting women, or men, in a position of objectivity is wrong, for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, such sales ladies' intellect being ignored over their looks, and more competent less attractive people being turned down for the same jobs. If you have never been in such a situation, then it is hard to explain the degradation one feels when they are seen as nothing but a piece of meat when they are trying to offer something more valuable. The fact that she doesn't mind does not make the cultural phenomenon acceptable.
TalkingDog
(9,001 posts)She is not a "sales lady". She isn't selling a damned thing. She's "showing" a product. Her intellect has nothing to do with why she is in that booth. She was hired as "eye candy" because the prototypical pocket protector geek does not do well with the general public as they tend to look like they haven't showered in a week and their social skills can be negligible.
If she were there to give a presentation on the cutting edge technology that she had a hand in creating and this happened, this I'd be pissed right along with you. But she is not. She's there to be pretty and shiny and attractive.
Ignoring a person's intellect to focus on their looks or sexualized attributes is a very real issue. But if this woman didn't realize that's why she was hired, she probably needs to find another job.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)Do you admire the intellect of the person who assembles your Big Mac any more than the model who is spruiking makeup on TV? Or do you simply overlook them as the cogs in the giant machine that spits out food on demand?
I would say that the majority of women who work in low-paid service jobs (along with the majority of men who work alongside them) would probably prefer the model's job, and for reasons (better wages, better conditions) that are fundamentally sound.
Skittles
(171,579 posts)but I don't want to hear those same women complain when they are not taken seriously - they are a major reason WHY
sudopod
(5,019 posts)fill me with dread. If horseshit like this is what DU has to offer, where does the rest of the world lie, eh?
Dave made a very good point. You can do better than this, DU.
PS: At least it wasn't Apple, then the wheels would have really come off this discussion.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)At least the Ad doesn't show the average husband as some kind of f*cking idiot.
(as I see all the time)
Skittles
(171,579 posts)go on
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)sexy bodies are used to sell products and it won't stop because such advertising works.
A while ago, I saw a beautiful woman wearing a skimpy bikini sitting on a toolbox and the toolbox company ad said, "The box I am sitting on can hold your largest tool."
Such sexual double entendres are common in real life as well.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)....with the partially exposed body of a beautiful lady resides.
unreadierLizard
(475 posts)Computer companies have used attractive women to promote products for years.
I don't think any harm was meant, it was just someone trying to be funny.
In terms of "sexism", I've seen a LOT worse from computer companies then some low-level flunky putting out a tweet he thinks was funny.
wial
(437 posts)but I'd much rather the world evolved to the point where geeks got the respect and admiration they deserve so they don't end up so terribly emotionally starved that they can be manipulated like this. But our species values brutal killing behavior over brains, and so it will be until the inevitable consequences of that maladaptation come home to roost. Probably there was a better kind of proto-human, but we killed them all.
On the other hand, we're pretty entertainingly ridiculous aren't we, and we do have also to accept we're as beautiful as the rest of nature, whatever our odd sexual selection driven traits.
and meanwhile, no, I'm not fine with the objectification of women, thank you very much. For all our evolutionary history and cultural quirks, we are HUMAN and should act that way.
reACTIONary
(7,156 posts)...they are (mildly) sexually excited. They are responding to an natural, biological impulse.
Any marketing effort that has to vie for the attention of a group of men in competition with a large number of other similar products is going to consider using this tactic.
Ever been to a car show?
w4rma
(31,700 posts)
Papagoose
(428 posts)Just too keep things fair 
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)This is going to change everything!
sendero
(28,552 posts).... I'm feeling a touch of the vapors!
Hasn't this bullshit 70s idea died YET?
Rhiannon12866
(255,037 posts)Please consider reposting in GD.