I just checked out her MySpace site. Nobody is going to exploit her in any way. That's a very intelligent peson that would seem to be perfectly at ease with herself.
Like FrequentFlyer said, she's an argument against Bimboism. She also looks like she's just a fun person to be around.
I'll bet Ami is a very fun person to be around, but how would we know? The only way is for me to volunteer to be around her...a lot. This sacrifice I make in the name of science and understanding. 
Seriously, I'm listening to her MySpace music as I type this. Very nice songs. She has a really nice, natural singing voice (in contrast to most of the acts in the music biz today who seem to feel they need to sing with some kind of mannered quirkiness or "style" - Pffft). I assume she's playing the piano? Good stuff! WTG AmiBeth.
(Um...call me.)
Jimbodiddley said: The only way is for me to volunteer to be around her...a lot.You'll do anything for the sake of your fellowman. What a guy!
Proteus asked, "Did you listen to AmiBeth's songs on her myspace page, Parabar?"
Yes I did, and I found them quite tuneful and perfectly pleasant. As I said, this ain't about her at all. It's also not my opinion that using "attractive young women" in advertising somehow exploits them. Here in the Western world, at least, I think a grown woman is perfectly capable of deciding for herself if she wants to accept a modeling gig, as long as the terms and conditions are all up-front. No problem there at all.
My point is that this kind of advertising and imagery is so ubiquitous that we take it for granted without questioning how it shapes our attitudes and assumptions --- what is the unspoken message? That, as men, we are so ruled by our attraction to women that our preferences in cars, clothes, beverages, musical instruments, or any other saleable anything can be influenced by it? If that's true, then it's US who are being exploited (or at least an attempt is being made).
I personally don't dig being appealed to or manipulated on that level, even when I can see through the ploy, and I'm holding out a vision for a more evolved world (a long time in the future, I know) where we can all relate to each other consciously and compassionately without all the mind games (even the unintentional ones) that contribute to so much mistrust and misunderstanding. Men and women seem to have a hard enough time understanding each other already, don'tcha think?
I'm not sure if It's the guitars or not but my pants fit funny
Parabar said: This may sound like blasphemy (and no offense to AmiBeth, who seems like a perfectly nice young woman) but you know what? The whole "sell it with sex" thing is wrong and outdated and way too easy and way too overdone. Make no mistake, I appreciate the female form as much as any red-blooded person of the male persuasion here --- I'm just tired of it being used as a blatant attempt to manipulate me. --- I'm voting for substance over image!
OK, I guess it's yettoblaster in an orange dress then.
Hey Yetto?.....you're up, dude.
OK Pro! You have to get a vote going with prizes so this can be confirmed!
Don't take this wrong, but if I was looking at a Gretsch add, I would rather see AmiBeth next to the guitar than Prot or Joe
Gretsch guitars don't need a "sexy babe" to sell................they attract them
Parabar, man, this is an odd conversation to have in this context. I agree with you 1,000% about all that.
It just doesn't apply here. If you can see through being manipulated, then you must know there was no attempt at anything like that in this case, nor can I imagine there would be in any Gretsch imagery that might employ women, AmiBeth or otherwise.
I was there – I took the pics – and I can tell you that no one was thinking about pulling any subliminal libidinous strings. We were all thinking "a pretty girl with a pretty guitar, that's pretty nice."
If men and women are to understand each other, it would be grand if women could feel free to be as pretty as they are – and as intelligent, funny, witty, and creative as they are – without fearing they will be mistaken for some kind of devious creatures bent on intimidating, confusing, and misleading poor dense men.
When I posted Ami, I asked myself what several women I suspected would read this might think: my wife, my mother, my daughter, and Deed. So far I know at least two of them have seen the thread (and quite possibly the others) – and they think Ami is delightful.
That satisfies my criteria for purity of intention!
Perhaps I have yet to reach such a plateau of moral rectitude but I can look at a picture of a pretty lady holding a guitar without being troubled.
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"...Why trouble him now who sees or hears no more than his innocence requires, and to no other height aspires, than to one at which he neither quails nor tires.
He may do more, seeing what he sees, than others eager for iniquities..."
-Robert Louis Stevenson
I never got the impression that Parabar thought this was ACTUALLY happening in this thread or with Gretsch in general. I thought he was just ranting about the wrong of it in general and hoped that Gretsch/FMIC would not stoop to that level and cheapen the brand. I AGREE!!
In this context, as well as actually seeing live beautiful women PLAYING these big SEXY guitars, it's HOT!!
Oh, and anybody actually buying a guitar because a beautiful woman is holding it is probably too young, dumb or broke to go for a Gretsch!!
Parabar said: The whole "sell it with sex" thing is wrong and outdated and way too easy and way too overdone, and it may be the way the world has always been, but ultimately it cheapens whatever is being sold ...
I couldn't agree more (I also hate children being used in advertising). While I'm ashamed to admit that my taste can run so predictably mainstream I deeply resent being pandered to, especially as a cynically mercinary ploy to make money for someone else.
I stopped buying Playboy -- remember Playboy? -- 20 years ago because I hated the whole patronizing, hipper-than-thou, come-have-a-peek-at-just-how hip attitude, and I refuse to give the peddlers of Maxim, Stuff, et al, a single cent for their equally despicable, smirking we-know-what-you-want presentation.
Want it or not, I ain't gonna buy it from YOU.
Edit for hindsight consideration of Proteus' comment, below:
That said, AmiBeth is obviously no such nonsense and no offense was meant toward her or her enviable presence beside a Big Orange.
Wishinfor, you're probably right. Parabar, my apologies if I overreacted. Perhaps I was just a bit sensitive to defend Ami and the spirit in which she participated here.
No apologies needed, Proteus. I certainly didn't take your intentions (or AmiBeth's) as less than pure. Wishinfora(nother)Falcon got my drift exactly right --- I was speaking to the perniciousness of the practice in general and hoping it wouldn't be adopted by Gretsch/FMIC, and in the heat of the moment I probably got much too long-winded about it. Anyway, spirited discussion is part of what makes this such a great place to hang out, and hey, once again many varying points of view were expressed without stooping to personal attacks or name-calling. Maybe someday we'll see political debates conducted with comparable maturity!
Remember those eighties Dean advertisements?
Eesh.
