Selling Via Womanly Wiles

[Guest]

So I've been in Baltimore all week at an engineering conference.  During our lunch break we can go down to the Exhibition Hall and see all the vendors selling their wares (both goods and services).  They consist of engineering, drafting, software, fabrication, and equipment companies of various types.  And all of them have the usual displays and signs that want to grab your attention to get you to ask about their product or service.

Well, one company had a sales force made up entirely of attractive young women with their blouses a little looser than is appropriate.  On one of the columns of their display area they showed a calendar with pictures of these women in what I can only describe as "sort of" cheerleader outfits.

While I was trying to recover from the incongruity and impropriety of the vision I beheld, one of the femme fatales came to and asked if I had any questions.

"Yes, what are the ..." the group of young women had a group name.

"We're the models for ..." the name of the company.

Models?  Since when do fabrication companies have models.

"So what does the company do?"

"We make and sell the ..." Name of the giant machine nearby.

"What is it?"

She didn't know.  And she proceeded to call over a sales associate to answer my questions.

 What the heck?  Who on earth does this?  They make a LASER CUTTER for fabricating steel parts both large and small.  What the..???

The biggest catch was that neither the cheerleaders nor the sales staff could answer any of my questions about the product.  (shakes head).

[zil]

21 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

The biggest catch was that neither the cheerleaders nor the sales staff could answer any of my questions about the product.

This is how I feel when management find some great new software and ask us to figure out if we can use it - the website says absolutely nothing!  It's all management mumbo jumbo, not a technical detail in sight to see what's required or whether it's compatible with existing systems.  You contact them with sales questions and all they know is that it's more productive, or efficient, or cost-effective, or some idiotic management-cares thing.  Royal pain.  It's not the product that sells, anymore, it's the image management fall for that sells.  <big sigh>

Edited April 12, 2018 by zil

[mrmarklin]

I’m not sure how you’ve managed to live to adulthood without learning one of advertising’s basics.

 

Sex sells.

[Vort]

16 minutes ago, mrmarklin said:

I’m not sure how you’ve managed to live to adulthood without learning one of advertising’s basics.

Sex sells.

True enough. And Madison Avenue has done a bang-up job (npi) of sexualizing everything from automobiles to beer. (That's A to B...hmmmm..maybe automobiles to zirconium rings?) But sexualizing a laser-driven metal cutter is going above and beyond. And doing so by basically hiring pin-up girls to walk around, with absolutely no real attachment to the product ostensibly being sold, is pretty darn incongruous -- and therefore funny.

[Colirio]

13 hours ago, Carborendum said:

So I've been in Baltimore all week at an engineering conference.  During our lunch break we can go down to the Exhibition Hall and see all the vendors selling their wares (both goods and services).  They consist of engineering, drafting, software, fabrication, and equipment companies of various types.  And all of them have the usual displays and signs that want to grab your attention to get you to ask about their product or service.

Well, one company had a sales force made up entirely of attractive young women with their blouses a little looser than is appropriate.  On one of the columns of their display area they showed a calendar with pictures of these women in what I can only describe as "sort of" cheerleader outfits.

While I was trying to recover from the incongruity and impropriety of the vision I beheld, one of the femme fatales came to and asked if I had any questions.

"Yes, what are the ..." the group of young women had a group name.

"We're the models for ..." the name of the company.

Models?  Since when do fabrication companies have models.

"So what does the company do?"

"We make and sell the ..." Name of the giant machine nearby.

"What is it?"

She didn't know.  And she proceeded to call over a sales associate to answer my questions.

 What the heck?  Who on earth does this?  They make a LASER CUTTER for fabricating steel parts both large and small.  What the..???

The biggest catch was that neither the cheerleaders nor the sales staff could answer any of my questions about the product.  (shakes head).

 

Pics or it didn't happen...?

Edited April 13, 2018 by Colirio

[Sunday21]

@Carborendum I once had two representatives from a professional association come to present to my class. They were hoping for future members which they need if their organization is going to continue to exist. For almost every question, their response was a gleeful:We don’t know. We’re from Marketing! 

Wonder what tweedledum and tweedlee are doing now...

I assumed that they were about/had just quit their jobs but no, they came back the next year. Same story. Same questions. Still no answers! 

[zil]

41 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

We’re from Marketing!

Ah, Marketeers.

Meanwhile, in order to accomplish, ahem, gender equality and stuff, I'm thinking that vendor needs to take a page out of this vendor's playbook.  (Note what the product is, then scroll down to the "From the manufacturer" section.  I'm sure you'll understand which photo I mean.)  I almost bought the product, but the list of what's in the box only didn't include everything in the photos, so.....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HCKQG7G/

Edited April 13, 2018 by zil
Der, fergot the link.

[estradling75]

2 hours ago, zil said:

Ah, Marketeers.

Meanwhile, in order to accomplish, ahem, gender equality and stuff, I'm thinking that vendor needs to take a page out of this vendor's playbook.  (Note what the product is, then scroll down to the "From the manufacturer" section.  I'm sure you'll understand which photo I mean.)  I almost bought the product, but the list of what's in the box only didn't include everything in the photos, so.....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HCKQG7G/

Because Kitchen Scales is a "woman" product (Yes I know that is bull but that is how it is viewed)

Thus for sex sells that is women focused men are the raw meat that is used

[anatess2]

Well, seems like whatever the management was thinking about bringing inquiries to their counter... it worked!

Wait... did you give them your contact card?

[zil]

33 minutes ago, estradling75 said:

Because Kitchen Scales is a "woman" product (Yes I know that is bull but that is how it is viewed)

Thus for sex sells that is women focused men are the raw meat that is used

A) I laughed out loud when I saw that photo - it being so totally and obviously gratuitous.

B) <snark> So what we have here is proof that marketeers aren't keeping up with political correctness, er, the times and are part of the problem - I mean, if they would just put scantily clad hunky men out in front of their engineering machinery, then I might be more likely to buy their scantily clad, er wait, sorry, I was distracted, engineering machinery.  I mean, this must be why there aren't enough female engineers - the advertising, erm, material isn't sufficiently appealing to make it an, um, attractive career.  And this doesn't even address appealing to the alphabet soup market... </snark>

Edited April 13, 2018 by zil

[Vort]

7 hours ago, zil said:

Ah, Marketeers.

Meanwhile, in order to accomplish, ahem, gender equality and stuff, I'm thinking that vendor needs to take a page out of this vendor's playbook.  (Note what the product is, then scroll down to the "From the manufacturer" section.  I'm sure you'll understand which photo I mean.)  I almost bought the product, but the list of what's in the box only didn't include everything in the photos, so.....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HCKQG7G/

I saw a picture of a scale with the caption "Your Right Choose for Healthy Living". I'm trying to parse this: "Your Right-Choose for Healthy Living" (whatever a "Right-Choose" is); "You're Right; Choose for Healthy Living" (correcting the misspelling allows for valid parsing, but the meaning is cloudy); or perhaps "Your Right -- Choose for Healthy Living" (go ahead, make your choice! I'm a very busy woman and I haven't got all day!).

Or perhaps "Choose" is how the cool kids today say "Choice". But how boring is that?

[Vort]

5 hours ago, zil said:

A) I laughed out loud when I saw that photo - it being so totally and obviously gratuitous.

You know when a guy has muscle definition like that, especially in the abs, it means he's severely dehydrated. That's why fighters are all incredibly ripped at their weigh-in -- they're badly dehydrated -- but look less cut and more normal when the actual fight takes place the next day.

So the ad is essentially saying that, if you buy their product, you will get to drink orange juice from a carafe given you by a badly dehydrated bodybuilder. How cool is that!

[The Folk Prophet]

1 minute ago, Vort said:

You know when a guy has muscle definition like that, especially in the abs, it means he's severely dehydrated. That's why fighters are all incredibly ripped at their weigh-in -- they're badly dehydrated -- but look less cut and more normal when the actual fight takes place the next day.

So the ad is essentially saying that, if you buy their product, you will get to drink orange juice from a carafe given you by a badly dehydrated bodybuilder. How cool is that!

Speaking of which,

Does anyone else enjoy professional body building competitions, if for nothing else than the sheer freakishness of it?

[zil]

4 minutes ago, Vort said:

You know when a guy has muscle definition like that, especially in the abs, it means he's severely dehydrated.

When I showed it to a friend at work, we debated whether he was Photoshopped.

Meanwhile, that's just plain disgusting, @The Folk Prophet.  We need a ::grimace:: icon.

[The Folk Prophet]

1 minute ago, zil said:

When I showed it to a friend at work, we debated whether he was Photoshopped.

Meanwhile, that's just plain disgusting, @The Folk Prophet.  We need a ::grimace:: icon.

Kai Greene's legs are particularly awesomely disgusting.

The feathering is unreal.

[classylady]

2 minutes ago, The Folk Prophet said:

Speaking of which,

Does anyone else enjoy professional body building competitions, if for nothing else than the sheer freakishness of it?

I have a daughter-in-law that was into women’s body building competitions.  She did very well winning several competitions. But, I’m glad she’s out of it now. She and her husband (my son) also trained for and competed in several Iron Man races. Since that time she has not been able to get pregnant. They had 2 children prior to all that that training, but now she hasn’t been able to conceive. They’ve been trying for over two years. I’m afraid it has damaged her.

[zil]

[The Folk Prophet]

3 minutes ago, classylady said:

I have a daughter-in-law that was into women’s body building competitions.  She did very well winning several competitions. But, I’m glad she’s out of it now. She and her husband (my son) also trained for and competed in several Iron Man races. Since that time she has not been able to get pregnant. They had 2 children prior to all that that training, but now she hasn’t been able to conceive. They’ve been trying for over two years. I’m afraid it has damaged her.

That's interesting. I'm moderately skeptical that caused it... I mean it COULD if it was severe enough. But that would have to be wildly severe training in very unhealthy ways I think. I also wonder what that means exactly. There's women's BODYBUILDING!, but then there's Fitness, Physique, Figure, and Bikini. (http://www.getfitgofigure.com/divisions-explained-womens-bikini-figure-physique-bodybuilding/) I believe the majority of women "bodybuilding" enthusiasts compete at the Bikini level. I could be wrong. But That is less severe than the others.

I tend to think fertility rate issues increasing is a directly result of cellphone usage.

Actually I have no idea. Seems reasonable though, right?

[Vort]

12 minutes ago, classylady said:

I have a daughter-in-law that was into women’s body building competitions.

I once read a quote that I heartily agreed with, to the effect that if a male bodybuilder was a parody of a male body, then a female bodybuilder was a parody of...a male body.

[classylady]

1 minute ago, The Folk Prophet said:

That's interesting. I'm moderately skeptical that caused it... I mean it COULD if it was severe enough. But that would have to be wildly severe training in very unhealthy ways I think. I also wonder what that means exactly. There's women's BODYBUILDING!, but then there's Fitness, Physique, Figure, and Bikini. (http://www.getfitgofigure.com/divisions-explained-womens-bikini-figure-physique-bodybuilding/) I believe the majority of women "bodybuilding" enthusiasts compete at the Bikini level. I could be wrong. But That is less severe than the others.

I tend to think fertility rate issues increasing is a directly result of cellphone usage.

Actually I have no idea. Seems reasonable though, right?

I don’t know what the cause is.  She did figure or bikini body building, I can’t remember which.  But, I would think the training for their Iron Man competitions were more intense. I have heard (and maybe it’s an old-wives-tale) that extreme exercise may hinder fertility.

[The Folk Prophet]

3 minutes ago, classylady said:

I don’t know what the cause is.  She did figure or bikini body building, I can’t remember which.  But, I would think the training for their Iron Man competitions were more intense. I have heard (and maybe it’s an old-wives-tale) that extreme exercise may hinder fertility.

Could be. But I would suspect that is only while one is involved in it intensely and, perhaps, under-weight, etc.

[Vort]

3 minutes ago, classylady said:

I don’t know what the cause is.  She did figure or bikini body building, I can’t remember which.  But, I would think the training for their Iron Man competitions were more intense. I have heard (and maybe it’s an old-wives-tale) that extreme exercise may hinder fertility.

I believe it has been shown that a woman's fertility (and libido) dives dramatically when her body fat falls below some (very low) percentage, like 4%.

[The Folk Prophet]

13 minutes ago, Vort said:

I believe it has been shown that a woman's fertility (and libido) dives dramatically when her body fat falls below some (very low) percentage, like 4%.

4%!!!???!!!

Holy cow.

I don't want to post bikini pics here, but feel free to google what 8% bodyfat on a woman looks like if you are comfortable doing so.

[The Folk Prophet]

Just now, The Folk Prophet said:

I don't want to post bikini pics here,

I mean, of course, women --- which I must clarify based on the pics I posted above.

[Vort]

2 minutes ago, The Folk Prophet said:

3 minutes ago, The Folk Prophet said:

I don't want to post bikini pics here,

I mean, of course, women --- which I must clarify based on the pics I posted above.

Is it true that male bikini-wearers sport a bro on top?