The largest cybersecurity company in the US has apologised for using two women posing with company-branded lampshades on their heads at a trade event in Las Vegas.
They were meant to draw attention to Palo Alto Networks’ sponsorship of a “CyberRisk Collaborative Happy Hour” at the Black Hat conference.
But the publicity stunt has sparked a backlash, with critics calling it “sexist”, “creepy” and “tone deaf”.
In a LinkedIn post, external, the firm’s boss Nikesh Arora admitted it was a misjudgement, saying it was “unequivocally not the culture we support, or aspire to be”.
The company has faced fierce criticism online for the lampshade outfits, which obscured the women’s faces.
“So we women are nothing more than props to you? We are only at BlackHat to be lampshade holders?” asked executive advisor Olivia Rose in a LinkedIn post, external that eventually prompted Mr Arora’s apology.
“Shame on you – just shame”, she wrote.
The image of the women was taken by LinkedIn user Sean Juroviesky, external who described the scene as “sexist”.
“What the hell Palo Alto Networks is it 1960?”, he commented.
One Reddit user, who claimed to have been at the event, said they left early as it was “creepy” and “gross”.
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