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Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

bloomberg.com

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Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#191

Post by throwawayjava »

jasode wrote: post #61
throwawayjava wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK. My logical brain says "it's not 1950 anymore; the PR blow-black has the potential to be truly brutal." My emotional brain says "This is horridly objectifying and super awkward."

>"it's not 1950 anymore; the PR blow-black has the potential to be truly brutal." For that particular party, there definitely wasn't blowback because the next morning, everybody talked about how amazing it was. I think it caught everyone off guard because it was unexpected and it gave attendees happy memories. (Yes, maybe the attendees should have been morally outraged but I can only report how they actually responde…

>>"it's not 1950 anymore; the PR blow-black has the potential to be truly brutal."

> For that particular party, there definitely wasn't blowback

PR is bigger than just internal opinion. Witness: this article.

> The interactions with the models would be similar to a kid interacting with Mickey Mouse at Disney

Oy

> the women were not dressed up as "Playboy bunnies". They were wearing regular shorts and a themed tshirt showing no cleavage... Also, there probably were male models on roller skates as well but I don't remember them for obvious reasons.

At least we all eventually agree that the obvious is obvious.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#192

Post by JBlue42 »

CodeMage wrote: post #138
jasode wrote: post #8

Yes, this practice of models at parties brings back memories. In 2000, a very well-known enterprise software company (Northeast not Silicon Valley) hosted a conference for customers and had a night party for the attendees. The most memorable thing I remember was the group of extremely pretty women on roller skates mingling with the crowd. E.g. they'd skate up and ask random attendees, "Hey where are you from? Are you…

This is one of those aspects of American culture that make me shake my head. If you're not enjoying the party with your co-workers, then it's either because the party is not good or you don't have a sense of community with your co-workers (or a combination of both). If the majority of people who attend the party feel that way, then your company has a problem: either they don't know how to throw a party or there's no…

At my last company, I tended to avoid all company-designated events but would still every couple months arrange a Friday after work drinking get-together at some local bar. Work parties felt like (unpaid) work or requisite to fit in with the 'company culture' vs after work drinks where you could blow off some steam without consequences and actually bond.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#193

Post by ringaroundthetx »

hkmurakami wrote: post #97
nimbius wrote: post #18

When attendance is so important to leadership theyre willing to do anything to insist their holiday parties are somehow different than any other corporations awkward, two drink ticket catered navel gazing event. 'non mandatory employee engagement' is generally how HR describes these sterile lifeless get-togethers. This inevitably gets translated into "i strongly encourage my team to attend" by management, which in tu…

Next up: models at your weekend company potluck!

Yes please

Models are loads of fun

Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#194

Post by heartbreak »

ImSkeptical wrote: post #147
jerf wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the problem anyone is having with this.

It seems like you're suggesting women should be free to do this, but men should be shamed for asking women to do it - which seems like a weird position to hold. I can imagine some harm comes from this - e.g. an employee is mistaken for a model, or perhaps an employee is never mistaken for a model, but the magnitude of the harm doesn't seem so severe, and seems comparable to the benefit - the party is more fun. I know…

Nope. S/He’s saying women are free to work as models at a party, but employers shouldn’t hire women to be models at company events.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#195

Post by ringaroundthetx »

LandR wrote: post #38

I'd feel incredibly akward turning up to a works party and there's models there who were basically being paid to pretend they want to talk to me. It's just awful and sad.

They arent there for you, they are there for the entertainment of the organizer because of their bubbly personality which only works because of their physical attraction.

They will also be entertaining to the guests.

Many models are equally as excited about your tech company and the tech sector. You might find a few of them more interesting than your coworkers.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#196

Post by ringaroundthetx »

RangerScience wrote: post #31

Huh. Seems like a better way to do it would be to just invite / hire a BUNCH of artists. No need to pretend; support an important part of why the Bay is the Bay, and expose your peeps to people they might not otherwise meet.

Most models are artists, not sure why you want the convoluted impractical version.

Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#197

Post by ringaroundthetx »

bdcravens wrote: post #148
workthrowaway27 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the issue with this exactly? The models are getting paid. Presumably no one is compelled to work as a hired model at one of these events.

It's social papier-mâché, and the fakeness is demeaning. However, that aside, the lack of disclosure is unethical.

Demeaning to whom exactly?

Im trying to figure out what your argument rests upon.

lol at lack of disclosure, call the FTC

Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#198

Post by ringaroundthetx »

xj9 wrote: post #136
radiorental wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have atmosphere models that show carbon emissions are warming the planet. Should we continue to just gawk at those models too? Or do something about it? It's 2017, not an episode of Mad Men.

ya well i'm starting my own company with blackjack and hookers. i (a woman) happen to enjoy pretty men and women, why wouldn't i want to have some atmosphere models at my event?

The strangest thing is going to a city where none of this is controversial

Its great

Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#199

Post by heartbreak »

danjoc wrote: post #177

Why would you be upset if the models are not? The models might be really upset if they don't get that job where they make $200 an hour. That might be the difference between presents under a tree and no Christmas for their kids.

I, too, frequently forget that there are people in this world besides me and “the models.”

Re: Silicon Valley Is Sneaking Models into This Year’s Holiday Parties

#200

Post by musage »

matte_black wrote: post #104
musage wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that a splashy headline? Are you referring to "sneaking"? > “The companies don’t want their staff to be talking to someone and think, Oh, this person was hired to socialize with me,” says Kermaani, who’s sending models to seven tech parties in the same weekend. It's just accurate. And where in the article is there any implication that this is an entirely new thing? > say a record number of tech companies are q…

It's a splashy headline. "Sneaking" is unnecessary. Replace the word with "Hiring", you don't sneak atmosphere models into a party, you hire them and they show up. There's also no point in calling out this year's parties, this has happened at a bunch of parties for at least the last two decades. It's not even exclusive to Silicon Valley! Tradeshow models, booth models, and atmosphere models are also not the same. Tra…

> It's a splashy headline. "Sneaking" is unnecessary. Replace the word with "Hiring"

No, it's simply accurate:

> Most models’ contracts say they won’t exchange contact information with party guests, and that gets tougher to handle with grace when they’re legally bound to pretend they’re guests, too.

Legally bound ro pretend. Are booth and trade show girls also legally bound to pretend they're not hired? Of course not. So again, you claimed this isn't new, do and I asked you to back it up. Simply because I'm not aware of this practice having a long history and the article doesn't give info on that either. You pretend you know something, now show you know something. But instead you talk again only what nobody can prove or refute, the motivations of the author of the piece (nevermind how much of the article is straight quotes from people running such agencies, but I guess those just want to foster "outrage", too).

> Pointing out that the practice isn't new in the article doesn't mean the article itself transforms into something new and becomes a breath of fresh air.

Who said any of that? The article says the general practice to hire models isn't new, but the practice of faking it becoming common at such scale is. You seem to disagree, because you said how the article "makes it seem" as if any of it is new. That's implying it's not new. You have not managed to back up that implied claim so far, not in in the slightest. Talking about what nobody can prove or disprove, the motivations of the author, is like adding another level below the lowest level of disagreement: you're not even disagreeing with the tone, you're disagreeing with what you make up in your head.

> So yes, I'm saying this does perfectly fit into current events. It was designed to.

What does that even mean? That the journalist Jedi mind tricked these companies to hire atmosphere models at unprecedented levels so they can write about it? If you get upset at the word "sneaking" in this context, like it's some solar system sized alien mothership of clickbait, you're not making a point, you're designing a straw man. Look no further for "design".

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