Who’s the bunny?
You will recall that yesterday was a gorgeous Spring day in Sydney, one that I was enjoying as I made my way along George St, Martin Place enroute to an annual Christmas lunch of around 200 business women at a City hotel.
I was walking with a female associate, Trisha Carter who had just left a businesswomen’s breakfast at Sydney’s QVB where she heard Jane Caro talk on women, families and education to another 100 plus women. We were in the thick of conversation (about our businesses) when we came across a group of ‘bunnies’ on the street and I’m not talking the furry kind.
The vision in front of us was so unexpected that we both stopped in our tracks, along with several other women who also couldn’t believe their eyes. To say that we were dumbstruck was an understatement.
Of course, it was a product promotion and, if you re-read my blogpost last week we can only assume was created by a man. But, I could be wrong.
You’re probably also guessed that it was promotion for Playboy and as we stood there absorbing the visual assault, around four of the bunnies started across the road. One approached us and offered a spray of Playboy perfume with the update that it, “…only cost $12! And, is a great gift for your husbands”.
Meanwhile, Trisha who is never without her mobile office, whipped out the iPhone to take this image. Yes, the ‘bunnies’ they were also transported in a hummer with a dark-suited bloke who really looked the part of the ‘bunnies’ ‘minder’.
By now my voice had returned and I turned to the woman standing behind me and sked what she thought. She announced loudly, “I won’t be buying any.”
My sentiments exactly and I would love to hear from any women who would buy this product as a gift for their mates.
The strategy behind this promotion is flawed across so many levels that it would take another blog to check them all off.
Aside from the commercial foolishness, what I have been left with is a sense of the undoubted shame that these women dressed as Playboy ‘bunnies’ would have experienced if not overtly, certainly covertly as they walked though the city side-by-side with other women who thank goodness, don’t need their bodies to be used by businesses to earn a living today.