The 'booth babe' issue had become a major thing in the video games trade shows over the last few years. There's ample scope in an industry that trades at least partly on the fantastic to cram attractive women into skimpy/close fitting costumes for a bit of cheap publicity for your product. E3 in particular was getting entirely out of hand - it had become somewhat hard to tell E3 from the Adult Entertainment Expo that traditionally happened at the same time in another nearby conference centre.

In the end there was a backlash. Despite the feminist cliche that all men are lecherous idiots dragged through life by their genitalia, most men don't actually like to be treated as numbskulls, nor do they like the implicit notion that 'if I show you an attractive girl dressed as a viking (but wearing so few clothes she'd freeze to death in a Scandanavian summer), you'll automatically like our product'. Because it insults their intelligence. And, even though the advertising industry seems to believe the contrary, the majority of men are somewhat intelligent. They know when they're effectively being treated with contempt.

The Penny Arcade Expo, which is very much the 'gamer's game conference' banned booth babes entirely. Women on stands are expected to be directly related to the product - i.e. if you want a woman to do PR on your stand, she has to work directly for the company involved not be a hired in model - and are expected to wear reasonable business or casual attire.

These days, it seems the 'booth babe' is pretty much the preserve of motor shows and particularly bike shows in my experience, which often feel like a trip back to the '70's in this regard. At games shows you do still get cosplayers wearing stuff that I wouldn't recommend any woman to wear in public but at least it's their choice to do so...

Does that mean you don't get to meet the real Lollipop Chainsaw or Lara Croft?

I had a construction industry show last week in London, thankfully booth babes are now thin on the ground and if anything, the one booth that had them stood out like a sore thumb. (rather enjoyed the free candy from other stands though )

Next week on EU news......All women must have Mastectomy and all men must be castrated to remove gender sterotypes.

So they supplied the traditional king of sugar instead of the lecherous 'suga'

indeed, alcohol and sugar seems to be coercing enough for a lot of people.
Are Burlesque shows going to be banned? And Moulin rouge etc? Not going to go down too well I reckon

They gave up having 'real' Lara Crofts some time ago. Jessica Nigri whose quite a well known cosplayer (you probably shouldn't google her at work) did 'live appearances' for Chainsaw but the company got a fair amount of stick for doing it. I think the days of using scantily clad women to promote video games may be coming to an end, if it hasn't already.

If the logic is followed to it's conclusion, anything which might be sexually arousing will have to be banned. GIven the breadth of expression on the internet, that's pretty much everything, including shoes with heels and spectacles...

Well good luck to the EU then, if the proposed ban extends to everything R34 related. There will be nothing left in the world

She was the western one; and apparently got banned at PAX for that pink outfit with all the cleavage. Well, they made her get changed.

Japan got Mayu Kawamoto, which is how the brand actually came to my attention.

And teachers, and plumbers/electricians/dodgy cable repair men

Best close the National Gallery then. A lot of those pictures of nude girlies frolicking about in pastoral scenes were not, despite common belief, painted because those classical stories were worth retelling in oil on canvas. The simple fact is that those who commissioned them wanted paintings of nude girlies prancing around.

Basically pornography before the Victorians invented the word and concept.

Exactly – my issue is what will be classed as pornography

- back to the old cliché – a colour photo of a naked person is pornography while a black and white one is art

And what about literature – will we be back to banning “Lady Chatterley’s lover”” and how does this work with article 10 about freedom of expression

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Convention_on_Human_Rights#Article_10_-_expression

When does say an advert for underwear go from being “information” to porn

You forgot the staple of cheesy porn, Pizza Delivery Guys.

Didn't forget it, with the attempt to ban fatty foods they should cease to exist as a byproduct of the forced healthy lifestyle