Final Paper

                                                                                                         

Is It Appropriate to Use Showgirls As A Commercial Strategy?

Niki Hsiao

National Central University

Abstract

This paper discusses the phenomenon of showgirls, and the reasons why they are unsuitable as a career. Showgirls are very popular recent years; they work mainly at exhibitions, but their images appeared on all kinds of social media, including newspapers and televisions. Showgirls had long been a controversial career; some people despised them for the way they are dressed, and some loved them. Showgirls’ influences are wide; this paper will list the downsides of being showgirls on physical and economical aspect. On physical aspect, occupational hazard will be brought up as an example. And economical aspect will be divided as two sections, which are exhibition economy and social cost that showgirls brought.

                   Is It Appropriate to Use Showgirls As A Commercial Strategy?

        Showgirls, they always show up in pretty clothes, high heels, and the sweetest smile on earth. It seems like such a glamorous career; however, they’re actually a lot of downsides of this career. Companies use them to attract customers, but can this strategy they’re using really work?

Occupational Hazard

        Being a showgirl means you are most likely to experience occupational hazard. Every girl that applies for this job knows they have to be thin and pretty, because the companies make it clear for them. For the usual exhibitions, they want their showgirls to be 160~165 cm in height, and weigh under 50 kilogram. And for car exhibitions, 168 cm is the basic height when they are auditioning showgirls (杜綺文, 2007). When these girls got in and started to work at the exhibition with other showgirls, they will find out that other girls are all skinnier and prettier than themselves. And also they have to wear short skirts or tight dresses, so they cannot gain weight, or they can’t fit in the clothes. So a lot of showgirls will choose to stay in shape or go on a diet by not eating. And some even took pills that have severe side effects to lose weight. They will secretly compete with each other, and cannot stand the idea that they’re fatter than one another. When they’re working together, they usually wear the same clothes and shoes, so it’s obvious to see who is thinner and who is fatter. The unity of outfit causes a kind of peer’s pressure. They pursue skinny bodies, but this is actually sick and unhealthy, some of them even end up having anorexia.

High heels are a must for showgirls when they’re working. They have to stand in high heels several hours a day, and there are a lot of times when they have to dance in those high heels. This will cause a lifelong damage to their spine, so they can no longer participate in this kind of career. And wearing high heels also cause harm to Achilles tendon. In year 2010, there was a showgirl whose Achilles tendon broke because she wore high heels for too long. She has to walk with a stick for six months after that. If being a showgirl means ruining a healthy body, is it really worth it?

Exhibition Economy

Companies participated in exhibitions realized that showgirls really do brought customers to their stands, so all of them started to hire showgirls. It is true that showgirls can create a joyful atmosphere, and make customers relax. But when everyone is doing the same thing, no one is special anymore. If a company wants to stand out from other companies and let people recognize them in an instance, they have to have a strong brand image, especially for those new companies that joined the exhibition just recent years (謝宗翰, 2007). Showgirls can introduce the product and interact with the customers, but they can’t promote companies’ brands. So actually, using showgirls at the exhibition cannot let customers remember the company’s brand, so this is not a smart strategy at all.

Also, using showgirls eliminated companies’ chance to communicate with other kinds of customers. It is true that showgirls can attract male customers to the exhibition. It is clear in this photo taken at Taipei Video Games Exhibition. So the companies conveniently assume that all of the customers are males, and continue to use showgirls at their stands, hoping to increase revenue. That is, they stop exploring new customers, and this is a fatal mistake for every company.

Commodification of Showgirls                                  

Showgirls are always the center of the spotlight in exhibitions. People stare at them because they’re young, pretty, and, of course, they have sexy bodies. Basically, the customers see showgirls not as living people, but as commodities for them to purchase. To sum up customers reaction is that, when showgirls are being commoditized, they outshine the products companies intend to sell.

Social Cost

It is a fact that showgirls are making money out of their bodies and youth. They are catering to the males’ desire by showing their body parts. Girls were often taught either to “please” men, or to dominate them; they established their confidence by the approval of men or overpassing men, both of which still under the dominion of patriarchy.

Also, there are still a lot of people in Taiwan that are conservative about sex, and because showgirls are very open about showing their bodies; this may cause conflict between them. Those conservative people cannot avoid seeing showgirl even if they don’t go to exhibitions, because TV news report about showgirls all the time. Also, the media show showgirls to the public as a career that is very admirable; they always give good comment about showgirls’ bodies. Young girls may take this in a wrong way; they will think they have to be as thin as showgirls to be successful and that they will only be loved if they have big boobs like showgirls. These are all social cost that showgirls create.

                                        Conclusion and Future Study

This article gives a few examples to prove that using showgirls as a commercial strategy is inefficient, and that the defects that showgirls brought are stronger than any other kinds of career. However, this article mentions mainly on the economic aspect that showgirls affect. In order to make this topic more professional, different fields of ideas should be included. Female commodification, body representation and the power of media should be researched more thoroughly to strengthen the credibility.

References

杜文綺 (2007) , 美麗的鏡像身體或不健康的馴化身體？---Show girl 的身體價值觀研究

謝宗翰 (2007) , 解讀台北市貿3C展場Showgirl的角色與意涵