Event girls By Thossaporn Wongwaikolayoot
Publisher:The Nation - Publication Date: 24-03-2008

The ever-present 'event girls' blow the lid on backstage molestation and overzealous patrons
It's auto-show season and good-looking women are queuing to become 'pretties' - the sex-sells face of fast cars.
It's a dream job. Increasing numbers of 'event girls' are working shows, product laun-ches and exhibitions.
Some 200 recently vied for just four positions. The pay is handsome, they tell the Daily Xpress (the daily freesheet of The Nation Multimedia), with 10 days' work plus training paying as much as 50,000 baht (US$1,592).
But ogling and groping come with the territory. And it sometimes goes beyond that. Most are lucky enough to avoid or elude direct harassment, but the overwhelming sentiment is that they must endure constant cat-calling and 'inevitable body contact' from opportunists.
Many worry this country will go the way of Japan, South Korea and China, where competition for the positions is so intense that some girls offer their virtue.
Pornrawee 'Know' Tantivet-jakul, a Chulalongkorn University senior, asserts she was called after one recent event by someone who asked her to be his mistress for a monthly payment. "I don't know where he got my number, but I turned him down," she says.
She's been selected as a presenter for Mercedes-Benz at one of Bangkok's big motor shows, starting soon.
Know's proud to get the job from such a prestigious manufacturer. It will be her only chance at this, because Mercedes hires just nine new faces every year.
She believes it's her height that got her the job. She used to be a cabin attendant but quit.
Know says the hardest part is remembering the details of the cars she's employed to present. "Being a Mercedes presenter is a good chance to get future work," she says. Mercedes pays 3,500 ($100.5) baht a day and a 1,500 baht ($47.7) allowance.
Wiratcha 'Jib' Winyayong will be a Lexus girl at the show. She was in the Benz arena last year.
Jib says she got the part because she's articulate and has good diction in both Thai and English. The 24-year-old says it's tough when show-goers or others put the moves on her. She takes a diplomatic approach and talks herself out of trouble.
"I'll admit in this business you have to be diplomatic."
Sex drive
Professional photographer Prasert Thepsri says the motor show is nothing without 'pretty presenters'.
"The girls attract people's attention. They make people stop and look at what they're there to present," he says.
It's the attractive women that get the spotlight at motor shows around the world, year after year. His camera is focused first on the women more than the motors. "The cars are always there. You can take their pictures later," Prasert says.
Beauty, revealing clothes and a sexy pose are what catch his eye. "Motorcycle presenters get the most attention. Their outfits reveal more."
But, on a conservative note, he says models shouldn't reveal so much "their work is to present cars in a good way".

foto

Attached Images

event.jpg (38.1 KB, 9 views)

I don't think I could ever do that kind of work.