Earlier today, participating Best Buy stores held a nationwide event claiming to celebrate women and (Nintendo) gaming. I threw on my best blond wig, shaved my face with a five blade razor, strapped on a padded bra, and headed out to my local participating store to get a hands on feel of the event. After registering, I was half expecting to get a “hands on feel” right back at me, as everything about this promotion screamed “bad first date”.
Hit the jump for this lady’s first hand account of Nintendo/Best Buy’s tribute to womanhood.
First of all, Best Buy employees were giving out roses, chocolates, and fake electric candles to all the ladies in attendance. FAKE… ELECTRIC… CANDLES. Secondly, there were signs and cards everywhere telling me that playing the Wii was all about helping me “relax”. It was creepy. Any moment I expected a Best Buy employee to whisper in my ear “just go with it”. They were doing everything possible to get into my proverbial pants, which in this case meant getting me to buy a Wii.
Not so coincidentally, Best Buy had fifty Wiis on hand at the event. I saw about five women in line for the console, and forty five men. I asked the ladies if they were buying the system because Best Buy made them feel so wanted. All of them said they were buying it for their sons.
Beyond selling some Wii consoles, Best Buy was also raffling off some one hundred dollar gift cards for spa treatments, a Wii console, and some other girly junk I didn’t take note of. They also had some Wiis hooked up with lady friendly games like Guitar Hero III, Dance Dance Revolution, and (gasp) Wii Sports all ready to play. Other than myself and one particularly talented GHIII player (who worked at Best Buy), no ladies seemed interested in the games on display. The roses and chocolate, on the other hand, got plenty of attention.
Over all, the event was something of a joke. If the Nintendo/Best Buy’s recent pre-release Smash Bros. Brawl tournament was a slam dunk, this Women’s event was more of a dry hump. Sure, the attention was flattering, but this lady remains unimpressed.
