Booth babes - they're not just for Comic-Con

Last week, I did a quick one-day turnaround to see the booths at the ISC West show in Las Vegas. While there, I shared the following observation:

Good news from the ISC West show in Las Vegas that I am attending today. I just took a quick first pass through the 1000 or so booths, and only noticed one that employed booth babes.

Subsequently I spotted another one, but the first booth really...um...stood out.

But I wasn't the only one who made this observation, and many more people listen to John Honovich than listen to me. This is (part of) what he said (I've deleted the company name, but click on the link to find it if you're interested):

The Sleaziest Booth Of ISC West - [Company]

Author: John Honovich, Published on Apr 10, 2017

The use of 'booth babes' is way down overall, but one company, [Company], continues to treat ISC West like its an HBO brothel documentary with a literal lineup of 10 of them:

And if you click on the link above, you can see the booth babes in a video. (See, I knew I could get you to click on the link.)

In the private discussion of this post on the IPVM discussion board (the post itself is public), there seems to be a division between "this is unacceptable" and "you're making a big deal out of nothing." In other words, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

And that seems true of this case. If you check the company's LinkedIn posts, which include several posts about ISC West, the booth babes somehow didn't make it into the pictures. Here's an example; insert your own "Executive's Club Tour" joke here.

It's quite possible that the company's employees, working away at the office in the northeastern United States, have no idea how their company is being marketed in Vegas.

Which raises the question that was posted on Honovich's board - how do you know that the women handing out bags AREN'T employees of the company?

Well, what kind of people does the company employ? Check its website:

At Rapid Response, our technology is extremely advanced and comprehensive, and our people are the most highly qualified and extensively trained in the industry. Employees are SIA-certified regardless of their current role. Technical Support personnel must have at least 15 years experience in the industry; most have over 20. Dealer Support Account Executives are all former Central Station Specialists, many having served on specialized teams or having held managerial or supervisory positions.

Our people undergo stringent screening, rigorous training, and then ongoing education to consistently improve and update skills.

I think that I can authoritatively say that the women with buxom cleavage and short skirts didn't have 20 years experience in the industry.

And in something that is probably no surprise, at least five of the sex - I mean six - members of the company's executive management team are male. (Update: all six.)

But that's OK, because I found this in one of the relevant executive profiles:

Exemplary business and professional ethics, a strong sense of urgency, results orientation, excellent presentation and written skills accompanied by astute financial and business acumen have earned me the respect of my clients, and colleagues.

OK, I'll give him a 10 on the presentation skills.

But I'm not sure about the business acumen.