>but should this be an advertising mechanism at a tech conference? if you need a dancer to advertise your startup, then you probably have a shitty startup because your product doesnt speak for itself.
That's not true. A big tradeshow has tons of companies. Attendees are busy, especially at the shows where floor hours are very limited. At least for B2B products, where a single deal can be a lot of income, it's incredibly effective to have attractive people working onsite. Due to the demographics of the shows I've been to, this means hiring women. (If the attendees skewed another way, I'd hire attractive men.)
But don't hire "dancers" -- I agree on that. They are intimidating. Guys will gawk but not come in; you won't gain customers. I've seen companies make this mistake. The goal should be conversion. So have friendly, good looking people, to make introductions, get leads.
If this is wrong, then it needs to be banned at the tradeshow level since the incentives are in the wrong direction. Maybe that's unethical, but a lot of "growth hacking" is, too.
>some ethnicities might even have males that are offended by female dancers
What's ethnicity got to do with it?