Shanghai May Ban Spokesmodels at Auto Shows to Keep Focus on Cars
China's cracking down on sexy.
The Shanghai auto show is a once every two years events, and the city's Communist government is mulling a ban on the use of scantily-clad models, a draw at many auto shows, so that visitors can instead focus on the cars. It's in line with a wider attempt by government in China to impose a more Victorian set of values vis a vis sexiness. Bloomberg reports:
While female models are a staple for major auto shows globally, China's car expos have challenged the country's morality guardians by featuring models with plunging necklines and ultra-short hemlines. China Central Television, the state broadcaster, renewed the criticism with a report last month castigating the use of racy models at another auto show.
The criticism follows reports that television regulators ordered the cropping of scenes featuring revealing costumes in a period drama about the seventh-century Tang dynasty woman emperor Wu Zetian.
In 2012, the Beijing government reprimanded organizers of the city's auto show for allowing scantily clad models to pose beside cars
That period drama is The Empress of China. It lasted on the air seven days before the Chinese government suspended it for being "too sexy." It's now on the air in a less sexy version, with closer shots that crop out possibly sexy body parts.
In the U.S., there have been pushes to ban "booth babes" at shows like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Mercifully the government has been kept out of it. While the organizers of CES have resisted calls to ban the hiring of models by their exhibitors, they have released new guidelines suggesting "thoughtful consideration" in the use of models. As they become less useful in helping to sell cars or electronics or bring eyeballs to an exhibit, spokesmodels will be used less. Organizers and exhibitors can make these decisions on their own, based on what they perceive their potential customers want. Customers will respond the way they want and a happy medium will find itself. Government intervention only distorts the signals used to arrive at a self-regulated state.
h/t np complete
Semi-related from the Onion: Mandatory Unisex Golden Globes Uniforms Keep Focus on Stars' Work
