Avigilon Paints Half Nude Women With Their Logo

JH
John Honovich
Jun 25, 2014
IPVM

For an IFSEC 2014 party:

There's a video as well.

We've had this debate before here: Sexism and the ISC West Party Girls.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
Jun 25, 2014

Sexist, maybe, but by whose standards? My European girlfriend keeps telling me how stuff like this is not uncommon over there, and is not usually seen as sexist. Of course that’s a place where almost all the beaches are topless and 60 year old guys wear speedos. (And I ain’t talkin about the ones in Sting’s shape.)

There are counter convention feminists that think freedom of sexuality is empowering in itself, thought I don’t always agree with every scenario.

So sexist? Who here, honestly, anonymous if you feel you have too, think this makes you think a little less of women than you did before?

And nope, I haven’t gotten any checks from undisclosed sources lately.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 25, 2014

Sexist, yes. The difference is the sexist sees the woman as half-nude, the pessimist as half-dressed. ;)

Avatar
Brian Rhodes
Jun 25, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Finding stuff like this in poor taste is not about prudeness. It's about mutual respect and sponsoring an environment of respect. Let's not act like this is about regional sensitivity.

Our industry speaks out both sides of its mouth on gender equality. We lament the fact women are underrepresented in leadership, yet we think stuff like this is just 'part of the fun'.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 25, 2014

Ever heard this riddle?

A certain trunkslammer father/son team are lucky enough to be the first to bid on a local project. They spend an hour on ladders, under floors and talking to the customer etc, before writing up by hand, a detailed proposal right on the spot. The two confidently discuss and then leave it with the project manager, and get on a plane to Vegas for their annual TS convention.

However, unbeknownst to the Vegas bound contractors, the lazy manager takes their quote and photocopies and rebinds it hastily; to prepare a guide and reference for the other contractors/bidders/laborers coming in that same day.

A couple hours later a new contractor comes on-site after getting a tip about the possible job. During the walkthrough, the manager hands them the 'reference' quote. The contractor takes one look at the paper and says "I'm sorry, I can't do this. I can't bid against my own son!"

But how can that be?

JH
Jim Hall
Jun 25, 2014

Step/father/in-law?

JH
John Honovich
Jun 25, 2014
IPVM

Sigh, you failed the sexism riddle :(

JH
Jim Hall
Jun 26, 2014

And to top it off, I heard one like it before but with a doctor instead, and got it wrong then too. But it seems a whole lot harder with a contractor than a doc, wonder what to make of that?

But as for the lude logo, I'm reckon I'm more of a free country kinda guy and if you're not hurting anybody, blah, blah, blah, you know the rest. Though I agree it's a serious issue and that its degrading to women and keeps them down, I'm not sure what you are fixin' to do about it? What if you were the supreme ruler of the land, like say the Governor of Texas, and could make any law or policy what would you do, sir?

TG
Tedor Gligorich
Jun 26, 2014

This one tricks you, but thery ALREADY in Vegas!(sexism capitol), so logisticaly it could happen, or something around those lines, right?

U
Undisclosed #3
Jun 29, 2014

Two ways... the new contractor is the 'Father/Grandfather' of the first two or secondly and most probable since we're talking 'sexism' is that this contractor is the 'wife/ex and mother' of the first two.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 29, 2014

Nice!

The Grandfather scenario was one I overlooked til after I posted it. To eliminate it I would probably add the back-story of how the 'father was passing the business to his son, much as it had been passed to him by his own father, shortly before his death'.

Then there would be only Mother TS and Grandmother TS.

Unless you can think of a better way to handle it?

p.s. looking at a few gender surveys indicated that 'contractors in general' (as opposed to GC's) had just 1% women as a group, only slightly more than 'sperm donor'.

TG
Tedor Gligorich
Jun 26, 2014

60 year old guys wear speedos. (And I ain't talkin about the ones in Sting's shape.)

Eww! That is a gross picture to put in someones' head. Im from 'over there' too but havent seen any Sting shaped speedo yet, gross anyway.

Rv
Rogier van der Heide
Jun 26, 2014

Being Dutch I can confirm that our way of thinking regarding sexualism is way more free then you see in the States. However, seeing as this is a working envoirement, I can't honoustly see what this kind of advertisment has to do with avigilon.

What's next ? Free lapdances when you purchache more then 50 licenses ?

JH
Jim Hall
Jun 29, 2014

Free lapdances when you purchache more then 50 licenses ?

Ok Roger, what's the catch? ;)

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 29, 2014

All services must be rendered by your Authorized Avigilon Partner.

JH
John Honovich
Jun 25, 2014
IPVM

Note: we are talking about a business event, not private activities.

Copying from the ISC West post -> A number of women shared experiences that can help explain why this is a serious issue:

#1: "It's not just on the show floor where this is going on, it's at many of the vendor parties. Parties that women like myself have to attend because we are often working at them as part of our day jobs, in professional corporate functions. If we complain that we are uncomfortable with women swinging on poles (and yes, I've seen this) or women dancing in lingerie as part of the "entertainment", we are told our opinions don't count, because we are not the target demographic."

#2: "If you are on a booth like that, your (dominantly male) colleagues are continuously commenting the booth babes tits and asses, and no sensible word is still coming out of their mouth. In the mean time I forgive them, since they can't help it, everyone has his or her limitations, my colleagues brains can't handle a broad spectrum of information, they tend to focus best on only one thing. So be it. And on normal day to day work, they are great colleagues to work with and I really can count on them.

What is a more indirect result of this innocent way of marketing, is that if you as a female colleague are at a booth, being it as visitor, either as a professional member of the technical staff, you either have to prove every minute again that you are not a booth babe, either they expect you to be one.

I once had the suggestions by one of our sales to wear high heels and short skirt, together with my marketing colleague. Have any of you guys already been to an exhibition wearing high heels ? It is really worth the try, it will give you a complete new experience in 7 ways to torture your feet in 1 day.

On the other hand, when I walk as a visitor together with my colleague, and I start asking questions on a product that interests me, the (usually male exhibitor) either ignores me, or answers my question to my colleague, avoiding eye-contact. Untill after half an hour, finally the idea rises that I might be the decision maker."

AL
Andrew Lund
Jun 26, 2014
0 for 2. Next contestant? :-)
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Jun 26, 2014

The new contractor is the mother of first contractor..

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 26, 2014

Correct B, though in real-life, the scenario is about as likely as someone ALREADY in Vegas mistakenly getting on a plane to Vegas, so Tedor should get an honorable mention.

@John, have you ever done a integrator gender poll, or know of a decent size one? You might need a 4k monitor to make out the sliver in that pie chart, but do you think its been getting bigger in the last few years?

JH
John Honovich
Jun 26, 2014
IPVM

I have never done a gender poll, but it's clearly really low. And it's even worse when segmented by function. In my experience, techs / engineers under 5%, sales a little more, accounting / back office higher, maybe 50%.

I don't think it's getting that much better.

DW
David Watts
Jun 30, 2014

I suspect you're all missing the point here. I was at the event and the ladies (who were charming by the way) were there I suspect to primarily draw more attention to Avigilon and create more conversation about the organization.......

And guess what, looking at the comments above it worked!

JH
John Honovich
Jun 30, 2014
IPVM

David, thanks for the feedback!

Avigilon is big and strong enough that they don't need painted, half nude women to get people to talk about them, yes/no?

While I don't agree with no-name and has been manufacturers using women as props, I can at least understand their business logic. They have little to lose and something to gain by grabbing attention in whatever crude form they can. I just think Avigilon should be above this tactic.

DW
David Watts
Jun 30, 2014

John - I agree totally in principle..............but we're still talking about them and what is it they say - 'there's no such thing as bad publicity'?

I know it's all subjective, but in an industry so prolific in men, I actually don't find it offensive

DJ
David Johansen
Jun 30, 2014

Actually it is basically just insulting. I like half-naked women as much as the next guy, but for a company to think that I will give them my money simply because they put out some party girls is just insulting to me. Sex is sex and business is business. I have worked very hard and spent long hours to get as good as I am in this business. I use reason, comparison, memory and logic to make my descisions. T and A just don't enter into it. Its the same thing with advertisers using voice-over people with Aussie accents. That sounds nice but it doesnt influence me at all. I'm convinced that most adverstising people are mislead, misogenistic asses who think they are smarter than everyone else. Thanks Avigilon, nice impression, I now think you act like drunk frat boys.

Avatar
Joel Kriener
Jun 30, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Really? The bottom line for a marketing scheme is, is it really necessary to go to those lengths to sell your product? Yea its a common marketing ploy but all it gives me is a perseption that their product(s) are poor or mediocure at minimum and need to divert the attention of the customer to something else. Kinda like a dog seeing a squirel.

AK
Alex K
Jun 30, 2014

Wow for the record I was at the event and it was NOTHING like people are claming in the post.

But if I don't jump on the attack Avigilon bandwagon my posts will get deleted.

JH
John Honovich
Jun 30, 2014
IPVM

Alex, thanks. Please explain how the event at IFSEC went.

DJ
David Johansen
Jun 30, 2014

The phenonmenon where people can learn from events they didnt actually witness is called learning agility. It seperates us from many other animals. We all don't need to walk off a cliff to learn how walking off a cliff is dangerous.

It would be similar to a manufacturer reading this set of posts and deciding to not have half naked women in their booth next year because when someone did it this year, the results might have shown that it wasn't as positive as intended.

AK
Alex K
Jun 30, 2014

"The phenonmenon where people can learn from events they didnt actually witness is called learning agility."

My Gramma also call this "phenonmenon" as rumors

DJ
David Johansen
Jun 30, 2014

My apologies for the keyboarding error.

Rumors? Thankfully we don't have that sort of mentality running the world, otherwise it would still be flat despite the rumors of it being round. I mean, I haven't sailed around the world so I couldn't possibly know of it's roundness even though I have heard wild tales of people getting in ships or something called an "air-o-plane" and weirdly going off in an easterly direction but then arriving back here from the west? Surely not! What magic is this where one person can witness something, but someone else can learn from it, whilst not even being there?

We must make assumptions in order to grow. It is the basis of most of our basic early social learning. Assumptions are also a large part of scienctific discovery. We theorize based on early observations or begin with the observations of others.

So now, wouldn't you agree; what some call "rumors" others would call early observations and they could use those observations to form better plans than the previous participants?

JH
John Honovich
Jun 30, 2014
IPVM

No rumor. No one disagrees that these women were at the Avigilon IFSEC party.

Alex K's only specific objection offered to date was, and I quote,

"Women been only present at Avigilon party not at the show"

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 30, 2014

Your right Alex, we don't know what transpired at the party. And although I think you would agree that their attire (business minimal?), was designed to generate excitement on the showroom floor, it would be sexist to assume that the 4 Hosts (H4!) had nothing to contribute on the technical/business side in addition. Perhaps each led a break-out session on their own particular area of interest?

Avatar
Richard Lavin
Jun 30, 2014
Salas O'Brien • IPVMU Certified

"I was at the event and it was NOTHING like people are cla[i]ming in the post."

The only specific claim I see in the post is that there were half-nude women painted with Avigilon's logo at an IFSEC 2014 party. Are you saying that is not true?

Beyond that, the discussion seems to be fairly generic and centered around whether that kind of thing is sexist/offensive and whether or not it is effective marketing. I'm not really sure why you are taking such offense on Avigilon's behalf.

JH
John Honovich
Jun 30, 2014
IPVM

"I'm not really sure why you are taking such offense on Avigilon's behalf."

Then you don't know Alex K :)

He's Avigilon's de facto IPVM spokesman.

AK
Alex K
Jun 30, 2014

John please stop with your lies.

JH
John Honovich
Jun 30, 2014
IPVM

You speak on Avigilon's behalf regularly on IPVM, while Avigilon does not. That makes you, de facto, Avigilon's spokesperson.

AK
Alex K
Jun 30, 2014

Please stop putting words in my mouth.. I never stated that I am speaking on Avigilon's behalf.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jul 01, 2014

Please stop putting words in my mouth.. I never stated that I am speaking on Avigilon's behalf.

When did John say that you made such a statement?

Avatar
Meghan Uhl
Jun 30, 2014

LOL & Hats off to David Johansen for nailing it. As a female in this industry for 25years, I've often seen this kind of marketing and I'm not offended at all. Don't mistake my not being offended with my being impressed though. I have the same attitude as David. These trade shows are supposedly professional events. The booth babes just don't send "professional" as the message so my overall opinion of the vendors that utilize them is "do I REALLY want to do business with a company that doesn't have the maturity or professional creativity to capture my attention without naked women?". My answer tends to be no so I don't go into those booths because frankly I don't want to be associated with that low level of professionalism. All that said - I don't support turning this into a stupid PC debate that results in unnecessary time, focus & money spent on trying to eliminate the practice of using them because a few people were offended. Move past those booths, select vendors who better demonstrate the level of professionalism you want in a vendor and let it go.

Avatar
Luis Carmona
Jun 30, 2014
Geutebruck USA • IPVMU Certified
AK
Alex K
Jun 30, 2014

For Your information

Women been only present at Avigilon party not at the show

JH
John Honovich
Jun 21, 2015
IPVM

The 2015 Avigilon party. More girls, no branding this year:

U
Undisclosed #4
Jun 21, 2015
IPVMU Certified

More girls, no branding this year:

The OEM Girls of Avigilon.

(1)
KL
Keefe Lovgren
Jun 22, 2015
IPVMU Certified

looks like hikvision was being represented at the avigilon party...

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