Newsarama ran an interesting article today about a comic shop in Orlando that uses some very "out of the box" marketing techniques. The article is written by one of the shops owners. It mentioned actual protests they organized against the superhero registration act that was a big plot in most Marvel comics a little over a year ago. Also covered was campaign they ran to get comics into the hands of US troops overseas and a pretty cool story about a real life zombie defense program they ran.
Of course the picture that ran on the front page was of a real life glamour model gal dressed up as super-girl. Apparently they've been very successful with a program called Girls of a Comic Shop. Is this good marketing or is it too sexy for an industry most people still associate with teens and children? Most of the outfits the models are wearing are tame in comparison to some of the things worn in comics. Also most comic book readers these days are men in their 20s and 30s, so the program certainly hits home with their target demo. Still I'm not sure if my wife would want to come to the shop with me on weekends if there were models dressed like this hanging around.
...call it a hunch but I seriously doubt she actually read that copy of ultimate x-men she's about to pick up. Lastly, does the fact that this kind of marketing works reinforce stereotypes that all comic book readers are dateless geeks, or is it just all in good fun and I need to get with the times?
