CES 2020
“Immoral,
indecent,
profane”
CES has undergone scrutiny
in recent years for the way it
has handled sex products and
technology.
At the 2019 edition of the show,
an Innovation Award was given
to, but then subsequently revoked
from women’s sex toy company
Lora DicCarlo. Organisers the
Consumer Technology Association
said products that are “immoral,
obscene, indecent, profane or not
in keeping with CTA’s image will
be disqualified.”
The criticism which CTA faced
in the wake of the incident led
them to reinstate the award, and
also to reconsider some aspects of
a show which has been typically
male-dominated. ‘Booth babes’
were outlawed, and a new push
for diversity was made on speaker
panels.
*
Microsoft
Xbox and
Plasma TV,
2001
*
Blu-Ray,
2003
Some took issue with the
appointment of Ivanka Trump as
keynote speaker, saying that she
was only appointed to speak from
a position of privilege.
Some took issue with the
appointment of Ivanka Trump
as keynote speaker, saying that
she did not represent women in
tech and was only appointed to
speak from a position of privilege.
But it certainly represents an
improvement for a show which
featured zero female speakers in
the last two years.
At CES 2020, sex products and
technology were welcomed, but
exhibiting companies were forced
to comply to strict - and rather
unusual - rules. You can find some
of these below:
• Booth giveaways
should not resemble
*
Tablets,
Netbooks
and Android
Devices,
2010
*
Ultrabooks,
3D OLED,
Android 4.0
Tablets,
2012
*
Driverless
Car
Technology,
2013
human genitalia
• Monitors/displays may not be
used for moving images of the
product
• Products may not be displayed
using humans, robots,
mannequins, dolls, or other
anatomically correct devices
• Exhibitor signage and graphics
should not include any content
that depicts sexual acts
• CES reserves the right to ban
overt anatomical product images
• Booth personnel must stay within
the perimeter of the booth, and
not use overtly sexual or lewd
language to attract attendees
into the exhibitor’s
booth.
*
3D Printers,
Sensor
Technology,
Curved UHD,
Wearable
Technologies,
2014
*
4K UHD,
Virtual Reality,
Unmanned
Systems,
2015
A history of tech
The first CES took place in New York City in June 1967.
Since then, many of the products which have been
showcased on the floor have helped transform our
lives. Some of these can be seen above.
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
Issue 1 2020 19