The booth was set up. The show was supposed to open shortly. We were waiting around for the eBay Live 2007 trade show to begin.

Three young women dressed in tight orange shorts with logos on the back walked by. Chelle looked at Sabrina. Their eyes rolled. One of them said to the other, "Booth babes."

Does this really work? I was at the booth several hours last Thursday, so I watched. I was vaguely to be male in a world that rewards this strategy. I was relieved to see that it didn’t really seem to be working. The  booth in question got no more traffic than any other on that aisle. Furthermore, it seemed like many people were reluctant, embarrassed, to be getting marketing or technical information (I’m not sure which) from somebody whose costume is so obvious.

I thought this was obsolete. This booth, however, was not the only booth in the show that used that kind of strategy. These people are spending money on this instead of something else. It’s a strange world.