Autoblog

Kia's second Super Bowl commercial lets booth professionals have their revenge

John Neff — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:31:00 EST

Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Marketing/Advertising, Kia

This is more like it, Kia. After last year's highly successful Adriana Lima-infused Super Bowl commercial for the Optima, we weren't that impressed with this year's Super Bowl ad for the new Sorento called Space Babies that Kia showed us earlier in the week. Its second spot for this year's big game, however, gave us a chuckle.

Called Hotbots and starring Miss USA Alyssa Campanella as a futuristic robot, the ad plays out a fantasy that we know for certain has crossed the minds of many booth professionals. These are the attractive set of women and men who plant themselves next to new cars at auto shows. More than just eye candy, they're usually extremely well educated on the product's specs and features. Despite that fact, they have to put up with constant oogling and questions like, "Do you come with the car?" What this T-1000 won't put up with is fingerprints on her shiny new 2014 Kia Forte, and she does something about it. Watch for yourself below.

Continue reading Kia's second Super Bowl commercial lets booth professionals have their revenge

Kia's second Super Bowl commercial lets booth professionals have their revenge originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Belgian official tells Brussels Motor Show to nix racy spokesmodels [w/poll]

Michael Harley — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:57:00 EST

Filed under: Etc.

Visitors to the upcoming Brussels Motor Show - which starts January 11, and is expected to draw some 350,000 visitors - will have to focus all of their attention on the vehicles this year, as event organizers have asked the automakers to keep the eye-candy "appropriately dressed" on the show's floor and exhibits.

Apparently, there were reports of lewd behavior (by male visitors, not the models) at last year's event. This prompted Joelle Milquet, Belgium's equal opportunities minister, to fire off a letter to Belgian car federation Febiac, the company behind the event. "A motor show is a place where you go with your family, we have to question the stereotypes we are passing on to children and young adults," Milquet wrote.

It seems that the spokesmodel's attire is coming under attack quite a bit these days. As you may recall, the Belgian minister's actions come on the heels of Chinese authorities chastising the Beijing Motor Show over its scantily clad models at its most recent event. Does this mean SEMA will eventually become a family-friendly event too?

What do you think - Should automakers stop bringing so-called booth professionals to auto shows?

View Poll

Belgian official tells Brussels Motor Show to nix racy spokesmodels [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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China chastizes Beijing Motor Show over scantily clad models

Jonathon Ramsey — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:31:00 EST

Filed under: China, Etc., Government/Legal, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Beijing Motor Show, Design/Style

Our post on China's "Tiger mom" phenomenon was illustrated with that above picture; it's the Jeep Wrangler Dragon Design Concept at the 2012 Beijing Motor Show, accompanied by a booth professional. The model - her, not the Jeep - made a fair few friends in the Autoblog Comments section, but it turns out she and her kind attracted the ire of the Chinese authorities.

The Capital Ethics Development Office gave the Beijing show organizers a caning because the "scantily clad" models had "a negative social impact," and the show was warned not to let "such vulgar publicity" occur again. There's a lot of room between that leather bustier and a burqa, however, so all's not lost for next year's show in Shanghai.

Scroll down to watch the Bloomberg video on the matter.

Continue reading China chastizes Beijing Motor Show over scantily clad models

China chastizes Beijing Motor Show over scantily clad models originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 May 2012 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoline After Hours welcomes auto show models in the studio tonight

Zach Bowman — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Marketing/Advertising

If you have some time this evening, we highly recommend checking out Autoline After Hours. The crew will be hanging out with Margery Krevsky, the author of Sirens of Chrome. Krevsky painstakingly researched the 100-year history of the auto show model for the book and will be sharing some of her insights with hosts John McElroy and Peter Delorenzo for your enjoyment. If that's not enough to drag you to the computer at 7 p.m. Eastern this evening, the news that Krevsky will bring along a few of her product specialist friends as well should have you patiently waiting at the keyboard.

The booth professionals will model dresses from the last 50 years of the car show circuit as a living, breathing supplement to the discussion on the book. Sound like a good time? You can see all the action by heading over to the Autoline After Hours site or by checking out the uStream feed after the jump.

Continue reading Autoline After Hours welcomes auto show models in the studio tonight

Autoline After Hours welcomes auto show models in the studio tonight originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 May 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chicago 2010: Women of the Windy City

Frank Filipponio — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:59:00 EST

Filed under: Chicago Auto Show, LA Auto Show, Etc.

Spokesmodels of the Chicago Auto Show - Click above for high-res image gallery

This year's 2010 Chicago Auto Show is just about over, at least for us media types, and while a couple of significant vehicles were unveiled here, it's basically a repeat of Detroit - the industry has definitely scaled back. Although Chicago hasn't always been one of the pre-eminent events on the calendar, we usually get a lot out of our trip to the Windy City, and while that's generally new car debuts, there's plenty else to occupy our time here.

Thankfully one area where automakers seemingly didn't skimp again is booth professionals. Lots of models are positioned by the vehicles, quick with a smile or an answer to any question we had. As the auto show season marches along, the gals just seem to get prettier and friendlier at every event.

And as we pointed out in our booth babe post from Detroit, we're not being sexist, but rather consumers of a valuable service according to Sirens of Chrome, an entire book celebrating the culture of car models and their history on the auto show circuit. Check out the gallery below to keep the economy going.

Gallery: Women of the Windy City at Chicago Auto Show

Chicago 2010: Women of the Windy City originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LA 2009: Random beauty in the City of Angels

Frank Filipponio — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:29:00 EST

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Etc.

Just some of the beauty in LA - Click above for high-res image gallery

With the state of the economy, it didn't come as much of a surprise that manufacturer presence was down at the LA Auto Show this year. The carmakers that did show up, however, brought their "A Game" - mostly. As much as that was true for new vehicle introductions, it also applied to the deployment of booth professionals as well.

Many booths didn't hire models this year, unfortunately, and companies that have traditionally been reliable sources of model employment weren't even here in 2009. We're looking at you, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. Still, it was nice to see even a few smiling faces while we scoured the darkened halls of the LA Convention Center trying in our obsessive search for postworthy material.

While we didn't encounter many spokesmodels, we did find a lot of beauty in the City of Angels. We've assembled a small gallery of random shots and artsy-fartsy images to give all of you a taste of this year's show from LA. Click below to see our small but satisfying high-res gallery.

Gallery: LA 2009: LA beauty

LA 2009: Random beauty in the City of Angels originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SEMA 2009: Booth Professionals are anything but stock

Frank Filipponio — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: SEMA Show, Etc.

Lisa Angeline, aka Catwoman - Click above for high-res image gallery

This year's SEMA show in Las Vegas didn't have quite the gravitas of years past, as the state of the economy and the automotive industry in particular seemed to be a wet blanket over the whole proceedings. Thank goodness there were plenty of friendly faces throughout the halls to keep our spirits up.

One smiling face especially caught our eye, although we weren't sure why. The eyes and smile were familiar but we couldn't quite put our finger on where we had seen them before. And then it hit us, it was our beloved Catwoman (a.k.a. Lisa Angeline) from last year's BatSmart gallery! We hardly recognized her stripped of her catsuit. We saw her in the Vertical Doors booth. We know this with great certainty because the name of the company was written in very strategic locations - like on the banner above her head and (*ahem*) elsewhere. Smart folks behind that BatSmart. But to be honest, we weren't really paying too much attention to the cars there, so perhaps this strategy is flawed.

This happened quite a bit during the week. We'd go down to shoot a certain car, and an hour later, we'd be scratching our heads wondering what we had come down for in the first place. Take a look at the gallery and you'll probably agree - down year or no, the distractions were quite spectacular.

Gallery: SEMA 2009: Booth Professionals

SEMA 2009: Booth Professionals are anything but stock originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chicago 2009: City of big shoulders... and big smiles

Frank Filipponio — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:29:00 EST

Filed under: Chicago Auto Show, Etc.

Click above to view our gallery of booth professionals from Chicago

It was only a matter of time before we got around to posting our beautiful people gallery from the Chicago Auto Show. Models have been pretty scarce at all of the major shows this year, and this year's Chi-town extravaganza was no exception. We've done our level best to search out those who've shown up to give them some screen time. As always, we appreciate the tireless work of the booth professionals who have to stand in heels all day and pretend to be happy to see another camera shoved in their faces. Many have mentioned that they are fans of Autoblog, but we suspect they say that to everyone. Still, we know that many will be viewing this post (with their families in some cases) so please keep your comments to yourself if you don't have anything nice to say.

Gallery: Chicago 2009: Booth professionals

Chicago 2009: City of big shoulders... and big smiles originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Detroit 2009: Motor City guys and dolls....but mostly dolls

Frank Filipponio — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:58:00 EST

Filed under: Detroit Auto Show, Etc.

Click above for a gallery of high-res pics of some of the faces from Detroit '09

There are lots of people here in Detroit for the NAIAS, and there are lots of moments that have little to do with the cars themselves. So we figured we'd do a roundup gallery to show you some of the personal moments from this year's Detroit Auto Show. Some of the faces you'll undoubtedly recognize, while others you'll probably hope to get to know better. Check out the gallery and you'll see sports announcers, execs, kids, even a model or two. As always, we appreciate the tireless work of the booth professionals who have to stand in heels all day and pretend to be happy to see another camera shoved in their faces. Many have mentioned that they are fans of Autoblog, but we suspect they say that to everyone. Still, we know some will be viewing this post so please be civil and keep your comments clean.

Gallery: Detroit 2009: Detroit people gallery

Detroit 2009: Motor City guys and dolls....but mostly dolls originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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