What new contest did EA dream up? Take pictures of yourself performing “acts of lust” with their booth babes – and win prizes.
This is completely disgusting. In an industry that already gets a bad rep for being misogynistic, sexist, and objectifying women – we are seeing this? Very poor form EA, very poor indeed.
And no, this isn’t about “the poor booth babes”. They are being paid to do this, and knew full well what they were getting into. Edit: I re-read. Apparently it’s “any” booth babe, not just theirs. It’s bad enough that the whole booth babe concept exists in the first place, but now there is a contest to take pictures of yourself being disgusting with them? Why must companies make such awful decisions in order to make money?
I don’t really know what to say. I am pretty upset by this.
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
I don't actually find the task part of the contest too bad (take pics with chicks – meh), but the wording of the reward seems sliiiiightly inappropriate even for this manly man.
Booth babes are great! Abusing them is completely unacceptable. However they should be allowed to abuse the attendees…:) Jeezuz, have you seen some of these guys? They need some serious cage rattling! Look, A lot of the women playing these roles enjoy the work they do as long as they feel they are in a safe environment. So don't bag on them for what they do. It's fun and they make a lot of money over a short period of time.
Don't forget who the audience is for games. Mostly young males… Sexually repressed young males. For many of them it's as close to a vagina they've been since they were born. There are booth-dudes as well and I don't see anyone getting upset over that.
I think you're missing some of the point. This is wrong on AT LEAST two levels.
1) Objectifying women
2) Furthering the stereotype that gamers are fat, unliked, greasy, sexually charged people.
1) No-one is forcing them to do it… You might as well blame them for objectifying themselves.
2) The silhouette in the add actually looks pretty healthy!
Finally… it's not just ANY game they're promoting with this contest. I hope the irony wasn't lost on you that they are promoting Dante's Inferno… I actually can't think of a better contest for it.
Then again, maybe you're right on track since the first act of Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno) describes the recognition and rejection of sin. You're definitely rejecting this contest!
This reminds me of the stupid ad stunts that Acclaim used to pull. People buy into it, EA comes out ahead. People decry it, EA gets cheap word-of-mouth, EA comes out ahead.
I'm hoping that a few attendees get kicked out, and a few more lawsuits get filed because of this. Just because a woman is being employed as a human eye-catch doesn't mean she should have to put up with being pawed. In the immediate, it's the venue providers and organizers who need a swift boot or threat to their livelihood, in order to get the boom lowered on EA.
It does *not* matter what game they're promoting. One is a game, the other is real world.
1) If they're asking people to go around and take lust filled pictures with booth babes that ARE NOT EVEN THEIR OWN then any models who work for the other companies are subject to this as well, without prior knowledge. You're basically saying “she was asking for it because of what she was wearing.” Promoting sexual harassment is never appropriate, regardless what GAME they're marketing for….
Let's all jump to the worst possible conclusion… Lust doesn't necessarily manifest itself in any physical way at all.
The true irony comes when you read the rules of the content. I think its number 4 that states they can disqualify at their discretion any picture they deem to be inappropriate. So, what exactly is inappropriate in a contest of inappropriate photos?
Cons need more booth hunks to even the score, because booth babes are really never going to go away. Sex has been selling for thousands of years, it would take the annihilation of the human race to get it to stop now.
Hey, the marketing campaign isn't “hey there, take pics with booth babes”. It's “commit a sin and take pics of yourself performing lustful acts”. They are being paid to PROMOTE, not to be harassed.
No one is jumping to conclusions here – we're looking out for gender equality and the safety of women. Someone has to…
I smell a potential lawsuit. The text “Commit Acts of Lust” could be interpreted that the contestant would be required to do more than just get a picture of themselves standing next to any booth babe, and if said contestant did something unlawful EA's large pockets would be a nice fat target for said booth babes attorney. There is the fine print to take into account, but a good attorney can get past that hurdle and will do their best to get past it with a check from EA on the line. Maybe EA will learn their lesson the costly way from this little contest.
LOL when did this become about sexual harassment and when did I say they were asking for it? Please don't put words in my mouth. I merely stated that the women dressing up half nude are objectifying themselves. I'm going to give them some credit and say that they fully realize what they are doing and that it's their choice.
And I fail to see how this contest objectifies them any more than they have been since the existence of gaming, automobile, and dozens of other types of conferences for decades..
And again you're assuming the worst. First, you assume they won't have foreknowledge of this contest. Maybe they'll have to sign a consent form or something.
Second, how many people do you think are going to walk up and take “lustful” pics without asking the models first? That's a quick way to get tossed out and anyone with a tenth of a brain wouldn't even attempt it.
How is it a bad thing if some guy or girl walks up to them and asks, “Hey, there's a contest going on asking us to take photos with booth babes. Are you comfortable with that?”
When did this become about sexual harassment, you ask? Encouraging gamers to find random booth babes and take 'lustful pictures' with them as a depiction of sin? Depiction of SIN towards ANY booth babe, not just EA's? Booth babes sign up to be a model for the product and interact with fans – but not LUSTFULLY.
It is just like the difference between going to a burlesque show as a spectator, or reaching out and touching them during the show. Booth babes aren't there to be touched.
I am against the whole concept of booth babes ENTIRELY. However, this particular marketing campaign is worse off because it crosses a border between models.
And trust me, you say anyone without half a brain wouldn't attempt that – I think you're underestimating the amount of stupidity that people have. There's a reason they had to have legal clauses about sexual harassment in there – because chances are it's going to happen.
It's not “Take photos with booth babes”. It's “commit acts of lust with booth babes and catch it on camera.”
You can read into the contest instructions as much as you like. When I read into it (on the poster in your above image), it merely states, “Hey commit an act of lust! Take a pic with a booth babe!”
To me, lust is an internal human process, not an external one. It's the thought, not the action. When they say, “commit acts of lust,” I take it as, “think lustful things about booth babes.” I think many, if not most guys at these shows were going to do that regardless of a contest's instruction…
And to be quite honest, I think of this entire thing as hilarious because it's clearly marketing a video game based on sin. Lust is a sin. They're basically, telling you to commit a sin. Sounds like this will cause a ruckus with the religious folks too, not just the feminists. And because you're being overly defensive today, I don't say that in a mean way.
If they wanted to generate controversy and hype, they got it.
If done without consent, I fully agree with you.
But interestingly, at which point do we call humans complete idiots incapable of being responsible for their own actions. Sad innit?
I guess this is more an argument about semantics than values. Personally, I don't think booth babes or any women should be harassed or objectified. My argument simply stems from the language in the poster.
I look at the poster and see two separate lines and you seem to be combining them.
1) Commit acts of lust
2) Take photos with us or any booth babe
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lust
Lust is defined as a desire (internal) not an action (external). I realize where you're coming from in that some morons may try and get away with more than the contest actually directs based on the muddy presentation of it all.
And yeah, I guess I'm giving people more credit than they may be worth. I just don't think we'll see any lawsuits coming out of this… Maybe I'm being optimistic but I'm sure any lewd images coming out of this contest will be 100% consensual.
My husband, who is a software developer with a different company, told me that this stuff “happens all the time.” I thought that was particularly sad.
I agree. It's a terrible contest.
It's even crazier than you know, because the contest's official rules actually contradict the basic presentation that most people will know it by. Rule #4 actually forbids “depicting or mentioning sex” or anything “inappropriate” in the submissions. It's ludicrous. I said a little more about it over at Kill Ten Rats' post.
I re-read. Apparently it’s “any” booth babe, not just theirs…
So why don't you change the title of this article?
I don't get it? The title of this blog is “EA: Over the line this time”. They're even MORE out of line because it's any booth babe and not just their own.
Waaaaaah! Poor, poor, woman! I'd tell you to man up, but you lack the cojones – and you'd probably wilt or something.
I realize I'm hopping on the comment wagon late, but I just got back to my bookmarks from travel, so…
It took me a second, but I read the poster the same way as snafzg there: The actual instructions are to “take a picture with a (any) booth babe” — as in, what half of the attendees would be doing anyway — and use it as your submission form to the contest. They're defining taking your picture with models as an act of lust. I unfortunately won't argue that there are knuckle-draggers out there that will read that entirely wrong, but I wouldn't expect most attendees to have the gall to reach out and touch a real woman in that manner.
All publicity being good publicity, I'm sure EA doesn't quite care, and there's no love lost between myself and that company. But I see this as more harmless than it's being decried for, as they're only asking people to take pictures with the women, not perform lustful acts with them (i.e. take photographic proof of sexual harassment). I'm sure one or two brave/egotistical guys will ask for a pose, but I'd actually expect a quick-witted girl gamer to walk away with the best picture of the contest.