More carmakers drop ‘booth babes’ from show
SWITZERLAND: A year ago, two blondes in skintight silver mini dresses and stiletto heels were stationed at Ssangyong Motor’s display at the Geneva Motor Show.
When the annual event reopens next week, the South Korean manufacturer’s ‘‘booth babes’’ will be gone, replaced by male and female models dressed in sportswear to promote its lineup of pick-ups and cars.
Ssangyong isn’t alone in bowing to pressure from the global #MeToo movement against sexual harassment. Larger automakers including Toyota and Nissan have also said they will cut back on the coquetry in Geneva, marking a potential sea change for an industry that has long pandered to male customers by using attractive women – ‘‘booth babes,’’ as they are known in the industry – to sell cars.
‘‘Times have changed,’’ said Sara Jenkins, a Switzerland-based spokeswoman for Nissan, which stopped hiring fashion models for shows last year. ‘‘It makes more sense to use product specialists because we’re selling cars.’’
Lexus, the luxury brand of the world’s second-biggest carmaker, Toyota, confirmed that it’s dropping models altogether at the Swiss event, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is said to have cancelled contracts with several female models over concern about being criticised on #MeToo. The maker of the Maserati, Jeep and Alfa Romeo nameplates will instead feature men as well as women in less flesh-exposing garb than in previous years, two people with knowledge of the plans said.
This is in sharp contrast with 2017, when Alfa Romeo’s display had women in little black dresses hovering around its Stelvio crossover. Nearby, a brunette with a beehive hairdo and a bottomgrazing, ‘60s-style dress kicked up her red heels next to a Fiat 500. At Lexus, a woman in an off-theshoulder burgundy gown was stationed beside one of its sedans.
A spokeswoman for the show said exhibitors are free to choose how they want to present their vehicles. Some may not change tack.
The transformation by the biggest players shows the ripple effect the #MeToo movement is having on industries far from its Hollywood roots. The growing backlash has also prompted several European sports events to ditch hostesses working on the sidelines of male-dominated competitions. Formula One in February said it was dropping the hiring of ‘‘grid girls,’’ branding the women in skimpy clothes at odds with modern society.
In the auto industry, the changing customer base is also feeding the trend. The number of women owning cars in Britain jumped 66 percent in the decade through
2016, official figures show, almost triple the rise in for men. In Germany, Europe’s biggest car market, women buy about a third of all new vehicles and in France
37 percent.