170 College students, living on three floors together, each one a little crazier then the next. The program was called University of Dreams, and therefore, we were "Dreamers". We were placed in positions across the board, from marketing, to music, wedding planning to finance, and we were all free interns. We worked hard, we played hard, and it was 8 crazy weeks! : )
Three of my friends worked for this music company and we were invited to all kinds of really awesome (or so we thought) events. At the age of 21 and new to Chicago, we were unstoppable.
Our second weekend in Chicago our friend’s boss (we will call him DB) invited his fabulous interns to a fashion show at a "chic" club called Moda. He basically said: Don’t show up until midnight, dress up and have fun. DB knew just about everyone, or so he lead us to believe. He was really just this really crazy man with long hair and multiple girlfriends and a very liberal look at life. Regardless, we were ecstatic. This is what being in Chicago was all about! We spent the day strutting up and down the mile, looking for the perfect outfit and getting ready for our big night out.
This club (which is now closed… it was hot for a hot second) was like something I had never experienced (probably because most of what I had experienced were little hole in the walls in Alliance, Ohio). You walked in to this smokey night club and all of these people were sitting at really expensive booth sipping on their bottle service. I didn’t understand this idea that you would pay to have a seat in a bar with a bottle at your table so I continuously sat down at booths and the bouncer kept coming over and telling me I had to get up. It wasn’t like I was rude, but it was midnight when we got there, and I was wearing 4 inch heels. After my first week in the city wearing heels all the time I couldn’t stand flat foot, let alone in heels. I literally could not stand up. My friends kept looking for me and I would be in the bathroom standing in a stall without my shoes on so I could relax my caves. It was TERRIBLE! It was like chic meets train wreck. I was either struggling to walk or struggling to stand or just plain struggling. I think this is the last time I ever wore those shoes out. In fact, for a while I thought I left them in the cab that night, but found them months later.
Anyways, the point of this story… The companies at the fashion show used female bodies to advertise their company (as a gender studies minor, you can imagine my rage). They used naked women as their canvases and spray painted their bodies with logos (they wore nothing but paint). This was the fashion show.. people painted up walking up and down the runway. I understand that people will do just about anything to get their name out there, and this is definitely unconventional (and before Lady Gaga was even on the map) but come on... I named this kind of marketing “meat market-ing” and its totally true.. I just hope that when I have some amazing company I can find other ways to get my companies name out there then to exploit women or men to do it!
