Nothing New?

Long-time readers of this space may recall that in May of 2008 I wrote a post about espresso stands in Washington state that were attracting increased business (and media attention) by employing young women in bikinis for most of their customer contact positions. I called the post “A New Approach” and suggested that while I didn’t believe this theme would work in all retail or service operations, we could not dismiss it outright given that a number of companies geared toward a demographic that would appreciate this type of uniform (e.g. males) already employ young women and require them to wear revealing costume. Last week, during the run-up to Independence Day, at least one company out there in America took me at my word…

A story being reported in the Tacoma (Washington) News-Tribune tells the curious story of Nearly Naked Fireworks, and the young female employees who staffed its retail operation in Puyallup, Washington this year. Said employees were indeed wearing bikinis, and did appear to be attracting a lot of attention – to the point where 17 citizens of Puyallup complained to the local authorities. The news story goes on to quote the owner of this operation as saying that he got the inspiration from the coffee stands that feature bikini baristas, and that you can see women dressed in similar costumes (and even more revealing ones) in almost any park during the summer months in Washington State. Meanwhile, it would appear that the stand is also selling an impressive amount of fireworks…

Now, I don’t mean to advocate this approach as an all-purpose way of cutting through the noise inherent in marketing a product. There are only a very limited number of businesses where this sort of thing is even going to be effective, let alone successful. Unless your key demographic is men (and possibly a very specific group of women) employing scantily-clad young women exclusively as customer service personnel is unlikely to do you any good, and if your customers are primarily women, men accompanied by women, or the sort of blue-nosed prudes who apparently reside in Puyallup in some quantity, this tactic could easily backfire on you. Not to mention the obvious potential for discrimination lawsuits if your business only hires young, visually appealing women and then requires them to remain physically attractive at all times (or risk being fired), as in the case of the Hooters waitress I wrote about this past January…

In this particular case, it’s difficult to imagine what harm the fireworks stand is doing to the community. As long as the company obeys local ordinances on indecent exposure (and the news story indicates that local law enforcement is keeping a very close eye on that exact issue) they aren’t actually breaking any laws, and if any young people do happen to ask why the lady selling fireworks is wearing a bikini, parents should be able to reply “Because it’s very warm out today and she’s trying to stay cool” with a clear conscience. None of the women working in the fireworks stand are likely do so anything suggestive in full view of the public, and they’re actually less likely than anyone else to actually light off any fireworks, given that they’re surrounded by tons of explosives and not wearing anything that could protect them from showers of sparks. So, under the circumstances, asking people to think of the children OR complaining about the dangers of fireworks both seem a bit off…

Of course, some of the townspeople are probably worried that the escalation from bikini coffee stands to bikini fireworks stands is just the beginning. In a few years, perhaps (they think), the quiet streets of Puyallup could be besieged with bikini hamburger stands, bikini hardware stores, bikini dry cleaners, bikini bridal salons, bikini supermarkets, bikini furniture stores, bikini movie theaters, bikini pet shops and bikini dental clinics. In which case, yes, we could imagine that the town of Puyallup might have to cope with severe growing pains, as single men from all over the Pacific Northwest move to Puyallup, or as they might start calling it, Nirvana, Washington…

There still won’t be any new marketing ideas under the sun. But the local economy should flourish, as long as they have enough comely young women who don’t mind going to work in bikinis every day…