Mon, Dec 19, 2005 page2

• Showgirl craze shows no sign of fading

  PROMOTIONAL VALUE Some people question whether using beautiful young women to attract consumers to exhibitions sends the wrong message

  • By Jean Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  If you think that the most popular attraction at car shows and information technology exhibitions are the concept cars and avant-garde computers, think again. Exhibition-goers appear drawn not so much by the products as to what stands next to these items.

  Battling your way through huge crowds of photographers gone wild and lots and lots of men to see what all the fuss is about and you find showgirls.

  In Taiwan, the models hired to work at car shows and product exhibitions are called "showgirls," whereas in the West, showgirls are dancers in theaters, nightclubs and cabarets.

  

  Showgirls dance and pose in this photo taken on Dec. 9 at a car show in Tainan County.

  PHOTO: WU CHUN-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES

  In the past two years, the number of showgirls has been on the rise, as more companies turn to beautiful and scantily clad young women who will attract more consumers to their exhibition booths.

  But many people are worried that the use of these young women, who are usually between the ages of 18 to 22, is not a healthy trend.

  Peng Huai-chen (彭懷真), a professor of sociology at National Tunghai University, said that the showgirl phenomenon is an indication of excessive marketing.

  

  Showgirls display a new digital-camera model in this photo taken on Dec. 3 at a 3C exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Center.

  PHOTO: YANG HUNG-HSI, TAIPEI TIMES

  Product-promotion and marketing are necessary but lately with the modeling and showgirl trend, women are in danger of becoming products themselves at these exhibitions, he said.

  Peng said he was worried that the public would treat showgirls like products, giving them a value that is connected to the products they are promoting.

  "Good marketing targets what consumers want. Consumers don't need to see beautiful girls at car or computer exhibitions, they can see beauty elsewhere," he said.

  "The main focus of the shows should be the products, not the women," he said.

  One of the reasons that the number of showgirls has rocketed recently is that more adolescents feel the need to work since they do not receive as much allowance from their parents nowadays, Peng said.

  With the pressure to work, adolescents weigh the salary of different jobs, and decide on modeling because they believe it to be a glamorous job, Peng said.

  "The media often show only the glamorous side of being a showgirl," he said.

  Some showgirls have also been "deceived" by the glamor.

  Nicole Hsu, age 22, felt that the time she worked as a showgirl when she was 20 was a waste of time.

  "We were like betel-nut beauties in skimpy vinyl outfits," she said.

  Hsu said that at first she thought that being a showgirl would validate her own beauty and it had seemed like a dream job.

  However, she said the salary was not really a lot considering the hours she had to stand on her feet.

  "Sometimes I had to stand six to seven hours at a time, and in the winter, we still had to wear those skimpy outfits," she said.

  Hsu said that her agency wanted her to go on variety shows, in addition to the modeling work.

  "I was tired of it. So I quit, and now I'm back to studying," Hsu said. "Most of my male friends don't like showgirls anyway. The whole thing was not worthwhile."

  However, other women think the showgirl job is worthwhile.

  Eli Hsiao, 26, worked as a model and showgirl from the age of 19 to 26.

  "It was easy money, and it didn't require a high education," Hsiao said. "If you do six shows per day you get around NT$5,000, and being an MC [master of ceremonies] you earn NT$12,000 a day."

  Hsiao first worked as a magazine and runway model before being chosen by Suzuki to be the MC for one of their shows.

  "Showgirls who have prior modeling training and experience are more professional. I don't like to be called just a showgirl because I'm more experienced," Hsiao said.

  Most of her friends and family were supportive of her job, but society in general thinks it is not respectable for a woman to earn money by using her beauty, she said.

  "I don't think there's anything wrong with using beauty. It is, after all, using what you were born with," Hsiao said.

  "And of course we help sell the products. We attract more people for the companies," she said. "Plus, showgirls have to take days of classes before the exhibitions to learn about the products. We have to know the product in order to sell it."

  Frequent exhibition-goers are divided about the showgirl fad.

  "I go to car shows to see the actual products. The showgirls attract unnecessary people who don't go for the cars. They crowd the area taking pictures with the girls and block the view of those who really care about the cars," said a car-lover surnamed Hsieh.

  However, Colin Meng, a frequent computer-show attendee said that he enjoyed the presence of showgirls.

  "It illustrates how various companies compete with one another. Plus, they're beautiful," Meng said.

  "But most of the girls probably just want to be famous and are probably not that highly educated," he said.

  Hsiao said that becoming famous was not on her mind when she was a showgirl.

  "I stopped when I made enough money for college and graduate school. That's how I paid for my MBA degree in the US," she said.
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