Geek Branding: NO GIRLS ALLOWED!

With all of the previous months tweets about New York Comic Con I couldn’t help but reminisce on my visit to the San Diego Comic Convention this past July. While I am straying off my typical fashion related marketing posts I do have a bit to discuss on the perception of women (seemingly feminist I know) and how they are being used to market to all the “geeks” of the world. Over this past summer my sister and I decided to Cosplay (dress up) as our favorite comic book characters. While we both have the nerd gene swimming inside us it isn’t uncommon to find girls within these conventions who are in it for the GLORY of having men of all kinds drooling over their skimpily dressed bodies.

Booth Babes, some of you have seen them flaunting their goodies at car shows passing out flyers but more recently they have taken over the nerd scene. Booths at these conventions like Comic Con or Wonder Con help promote things like television shows, magazines, or video games with good looking girls dressed in questionable “costumes” as seen in said shows or games. While some girls are just in it for the attention there ARE girls out there who are genuinely interested in the content these conventions withhold and what is it to stop them from expressing their fandom through cosplaying? One writer for a CNN blog thought otherwise, generalizing ALL girls who dress up to be attention seeking fakes.

While women have always been a step behind men in all aspects of life including careers, respect, and strength I never would have thought in 2012 women would still be considered inadequate in what used to be close to an all male geeky world. Advertisements, television, and print are still portraying women as submissive and unintelligent. With the introduction of the heroine it would seem that women would be more empowered than ever to be strong risk takers. With articles like this coming out it unfortunately just emphasizes the feelings that males have towards females in the comic industry. Even worse, me and my sisters photograph is associated directly with the article. Talk about misinterpretation.

While this marketing tactic of “booth babes” seems to be successful in pulling in a male demographic of customers women are ridiculed for it. So, the argument remains, should the comic industry continue branding a “No Girls Allowed” mentality? The changing demographic of “geeks” now includes women and unfortunately this method of branding will not envelop this new untapped market. Taking all of these marketing courses reminds me that sometimes marketers can forget when a new target market jumps into the scene. The world is always changing and industries need to adjust.

Feel free to check out the original blog post below:
http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/24/booth-babes-need-not-apply/