Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cliff Banks on October 7, 2010 at 5:54pm

I've not seen that cover. I do know, many people have been on the cover of Digital Dealer magazine and use those images as their pictures on numerous social networking sites, so that may be what you saw.

While we have no official affiliation with ADM, Ralph Paglia, the owner of the site, promotes the Digital Dealer Conferences & Expositions, and has done so for years. Ralph is a personal friend, but certainly the article was in poor taste, in my opinion, and does not help the industry.

But we do live in a society that pushes sex constantly in advertising and all forms of media. It's something we're bombarded with every day. Yet, this type of content should not be included on business-related sites or publications.





Sally Whitesell said:

Thank you for clearing this up and taking a stand. I actually saw what looked like a cover of your magazine, "Digital Dealer" with this title on it. Was someone misrepresenting your magazine?

Cliff Banks said:

To clear up any confusion, as the vice president and editorial director of Dealer Communications (publisher of Dealer magazine, Digital Dealer magazine; Dealer Fixed Operations magazine and the Digital Dealer Conference & Expositions, www.dealer-magazine.com) we have nothing to do with this article, nor have we commented on it. From what I understand, this is an article on ADM's site with whom we have no official affiliation.

This is not the type of content you will find in any of our publications or on any of our sites.

Permalink Reply by Jos Myers on October 7, 2010 at 5:57pm

I'm not "in" the automotive industry as much as I'm involved in writing about it (and have a husband involved in it!), but this topic is close to my heart as a lady who tries desperately to be taken seriously while doing "man's work." I had to join your group just so I could comment!

There is talk of following it up with a 10 sexiest men just to even the playing field. Here is the problem, there is no evening the field, because men aren't suffering the consequences of centuries of misogyny. They aren't the ones who have had to suffer through pleasant smiles and head nods while a gentleman stares at you with looks that say, "Sure Honey, just keep talking like you know what you're talking about and I'll keep staring to humor you because you have two reasons in front of me to keep my eyes directed on you."

There are plenty of studies for certain that show that some women embrace their sexuality as a tool of power, but I personally find that in doing so we have to sacrifice parts of ourselves that men will never have to. We are relegated to either accepting that we are sex objects and trying to manipulate men with it (and men, do you really want to be the victims of manipulation?) or turning into slobs who wear pajamas to work. I would love to believe that the happy medium that men are privy to is possible for women as well- where we can use charm and a good personality and smarts and experience and training all together to be taken seriously without our sex appeal being mentioned. If the article was called "The 10 Most Promising Ladies in Social Media," these conversations wouldn't have been happening. Of course, then they would have had to have put some ugly people on there and heaven forbid anyone should have to look at a lady with saggy breasts or frizzy hair. Its truly an injustice to force men to look at ugly women.

I've also seen comments that people would be proud to have their daughters on the list. My daughters are 4 and 2, so if you put them on a list like that I would probably be reporting you to the feds, so lets say it happens when they grow up. Would I be proud? I will forever be proud of their accomplishments, but I would encourage them to have themselves removed and save their good names for use on articles of merit.

I personally don't want to ever be affiliated with an article that uses my sex appeal to talk about my business smarts. You could say I'm too nerdy for it anyway, but there is a choice in there as well. Perhaps that is my attempt at finding my personal happy medium.

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on October 7, 2010 at 6:05pm

Jack Higginbotham asked me to pass this along as he is not a member of Women in the Auto Industry.

Nancy,
Since I am not a member of Women in the industry group I was hoping that you might share my opinion to the group.

Obviously someone is still in the dark ages when it comes to the article "Sexiest Women in the Industry" or whatever it was called. I just wanted to let you all know that I believe the article was and is in poor taste and totally uncalled for in such an elite forum as this. I believe I speak for many of the men on this forum and want to let you know that we do not share the opinion of the author.

I know the old saying that sex sells, but I don'tr believe he was selling anything. In my opinion, the author should be barred from this forum. We are all professionals here and don't deserve that kind of trash here.

Just speaking my opinion here.

Thanks,
Jack

Permalink Reply by Joe Webb on October 7, 2010 at 8:08pm

Everyone knows that the sexiest women blog post by Ralph was done by Ralph Paglia and not by anyone with Digital Dealer, correct? They are two separate entities.

Permalink Reply by MANNY LUNA on October 7, 2010 at 9:20pm

Wow! I just dont now what to say?

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on October 8, 2010 at 9:40am

Thanks Joe..Yes that was clarified for us... very important!
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Joe Webb said:

Everyone knows that the sexiest women blog post by Ralph was done by Ralph Paglia and not by anyone with Digital Dealer, correct? They are two separate entities.

Permalink Reply by Rebecca Chernek on October 9, 2010 at 4:21am

I couldn't agree with you more.... it gets old... just like some of their own worn out bad habits.... I support you 100%!

Becky Chernek

Permalink Reply by Rachael Schulz Dunbar on October 9, 2010 at 5:04pm

Seriously...gotta say that if I was on the list I would not be the least bit offended. After all...sex sells. And thier point was how being intellectual and resourceful is sexy....not photographicly.

Permalink Reply by Courtney Cole on October 9, 2010 at 5:20pm

I would much rather read about someone with outstanding core values that gives back to the Community and makes a difference to the people around them than to read about some vendor's article that has NOTHING to do with the car business.

Our industry is better than this and we should expect better leadership -- just my opinion.

Permalink Reply by Gilbert A. Chavez on October 9, 2010 at 6:26pm

This is an original posting from Fuchsia McInerney. Ralph Paglia is a stand up guy and is in no way, shape, or form a misogynist. Actually, he is only reinforcing the valuable impact woman have had on our industry by posting this from Fuchsia McInerney's site. I have known Ralph for many years and I know personally that he highly regards the contributions made by woman in the car business.

Permalink Reply by Jos Myers on October 9, 2010 at 6:53pm

If you re-post something that is wrong, you are still wrong. It is like me (a white girl) saying, "hey I have an african american friend so I can use the 'N word.' " If something is wrong, it is wrong.
So the article is written by a woman. Women can contribute to the problem as easily as men can, and do regularly.
The article itself may talk about empowered women, but it says quite plainly, "From e-commerce to marketing to blogging, spanning from corporate to indie, our top ten have taken the high-tech industry by storm, and quite frankly, they look good doing it!" IT IS NOT necessary or productive to tag it with that final statement, whether you are a woman, man, feminist, misogynist, or anything in between.

Permalink Reply by Sharon Hill on October 9, 2010 at 7:37pm

OMG, I just read the post. My opinion of Ralph just dropped many many notches. I'm totally appalled. I'm out of the office but when I get back on Wed. I'm going to start calling these women, find out if they knew the slant of this piece and get their feedback, and then I'll do some posting of my own. Just when you think you might have started to gain respect and equality along comes Paglia. I had included him on my list of industry folks to come to for quotes when I was writing automotive industry articles, but no more. Although, come to think of it, he might be a good example of what NOT to do. Maybe that's MY slant in my next article. Why don't you send me your most titillating screenshot of yourself, Ralph? Why don't we focus on YOUR body and downplay anything else you might have to offer?

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