What Would Carol Do?
I don’t know about you, when I think “Hackers” I think of my friends from school (hey, my nickname is “Nerdette” for crying out loud), or Angelina Jolie in a hockey jersey. Not strippers. Aren’t we at a time yet when this bullshit pairing of geeks and hussies is a thing of the past? Apparently, we aren’t.
If you rub the robot's belly, a go-go dancer jumps out.
Last week, Yahoo sponsored an annual event in Taiwan called Hack Day 2009. So a few things – first, you would think a global enterprise like Yahoo would be a little more discerning in their image, particularly at events they so heavily sponsor. Second, with a woman CEO named Carol Bartz who’s a breast cancer survivor, what is Corporate HQ’s reaction? According to this post by Simon Willison and a quick google search, nothing’s been said officially.
What’s even more interesting is that this is not some new PR blunder or an isolated event. I found someone’s flickr feed from the 2008 Open Hack Day with evidence of women participants here, here and here. Also, the go-go dancers/ strippers / scantily-clad-women were also there. But instead of furry boots, they wore hot pants overalls.
So I ask you, what would Carol do? I hope she and the rest of Yahoo figure out a way to exhibit some corporate leadership and stop allowing ridiculous “entertainment” to be a part of their annual event. Thinking about the situation reversed, it’s just not pretty.
Please be sure to make your voice heard – a lot of action has happened on twitter, there’s a petition to @yahoo to condemn what happened, and of course there’s the good, old fashioned method of calling their Media Relations office at (408) 349-3300.
Update: Via Twitter, Yahoo tweeted:
“Hack Girls from Y!’s Taiwan event don’t reflect our values. Was inappropriate, we regret offending anyone. We’ll ensure won’t happen again.”
I love the internets.
*Thanks to @womenwhotech for bringing this to my attention. The pic is a combo from Willison’s post and @womenwhotech’s Twitpic.
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