Sony Vaio Live Mannequins enter Grand Central Station New York City
Sony Vaio Live Mannequins enter Grand Central Station New York City

NEW YORK, Feb 5, 2009 / FW/ — If lately, you have seen mannequins who are chatting or texting on the Sony VAIO Lifestyle PC, do not be alarmed. The technology company had asked the best retail salesperson in history to introduce its 8” notebook in Manhattan.

Mannequins, whether they are your garden variety window mannequin or the live ones you saw in New York this past week had been around for a long time. The French word for “model” (which can also be a synonym for catwalker), the living mannequin had been “selling” clothes on the haute couture runway for the past 150 years.

In the shop window and sales floors in retail stores, life-like mannequins had evolved from wax, plaster of Paris to today’s fiberglass to become the silent salesperson. Usually relegated to fashion windows and clothing areas, mannequins had also been used to sell items other than clothing. And Sony VAIO Lifestyle PC falls in that category.

Using ‘live mannequins,’ Sony attracted attention and stopped traffic all over New York City as they move from place to place, beginning at the Grand Central Station. Women dressed and ‘made-up” to look like mannequins are crowd stoppers to begin with.

With “white” geisha like make-up and lines at their wrists and shoulders, (sometimes their necks also), the usual places where fiberglass mannequins are assembled and disassembled, the women especially if they are not moving and not blinking look like their fiberglass counterparts.

Photos courtesy of Sony

As for the Sony VAIO Lifestyle PC, the short video clip will show its capabilities. Dan Ackerman at CNET, who reviewed it hands on at CES in Las Vegas said: “Despite the small overall size, we found the keyboard fairly easy to use. At first, the lack of a touchpad worried us, but the trackpoint was fast and responsive, and after 15 minutes or so, we got fairly used to navigating with it–a very light tap on the pointing stick will give you a left mouse click. We’re still not entirely sold, however, and still think a touchpad is better for many tasks.”

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One Response

  1. nabil

    February 18, 2010