Headphones

Who knew headphones were sexy? Apparently everyone.

I go to some gaming conventions and there are headphone booths – good ones and bad ones. This was a long time ago at a Pax. The Pax bit is important because they specifically restrict booth babes so that the entire convention is more family friendly and inclusive (their words).

The Sennheiser stand was especially disappointing as it had clearly pushed up against the boundaries of the ‘no booth babes’ rules as much as possible. I’m trying to buy decent sound equipment for my ears, it’s very strange to have that sexualised so much. It was genuinely annoying because on top of that the staff knew nothing about the product.

I then found myself in the other end of the convention later, where Turtle Beach of all companies had a setup. This was a massive contrast, staffed almost entirely by men who showed very little interest in disturbing me as I browsed their tech and read the brochures. The guys were focussed on a small area of the booth where convention goers were invited to game and use the headphones in team games to communicate.

When I did have a question, the Turtle Beach crew were very helpful and knowledgable which was a huge difference to many of the booths I’d seen. Not only that, but to my complete surprise (cue World of Tanks rant in another post) they asked if I wanted to try the set I was looking at and invited me to take up a computer. No assuming I don’t play competitive FPS games, or that I’m shopping for my husband. Such a refreshing change of pace to the other large companies booths at the event.

Before it sounds like I’m just hating on every booth and operator there because they didn’t assume I was a gamer – the indie booths and smaller companies presenting were all pretty much great to talk to. The closer someone came to their product in terms of ownership, the more they were interested in getting you hands on with it. I’m guessing at them having more of a stake in moving the products, so they were more willing to engage at a more genuine level than just handing out a flyer and counting down the clock.

In the end, who knew headphones could be sold by skinny women in tiny skirts who know nothing about headphones? Apparently, everyone in marketing ever. I assume it works, because booth babes are a thing and they’re everywhere at conventions as a normal and almost expected part of the industry. Given the packaging and general macho masculinity of the turtle beach packaging I’ve seen in stores, it was a fabulous surprise to find their booth staff to be actually product knowledgable and also willing to assume that since I was at a gaming convention looking at gamer marketed headphones, I probably knew how to play.

Carla “Skull Candy Pun in headline image” Cravaliat