One of America's largest cybersecurity companies apologized for what has been called a "sexist," "creepy" and "tone-deaf" decision to have two women wear lampshades on their heads at an event in Las Vegas .
The women were meant to represent sponsorship by "CyberRisk Collaborative Happy Hour" for Palo Alto Networks at a Black Hat conference. They appeared as "props," wearing lampshades that were embossed with the company's logo as they stood greeting people at the door.
Olivia Rose, an executive advisor, wrote a scathing take on the photo of the women, which was taken by Sean Juroviesky, another LinkedIn user who allegedly attended the event.
In her own post, Rose wrote, "Shame. Shame. Shame on you, both Palo Alto Networks and CyberRisk Collaborative. So we women are nothing more than props to you? We are only at BlackHat to be lampshade holders?? Are those intended to represent bright ideas inside our heads or… just light bulbs? Shame on you. Just shame. Do better. It’s really not that hard."
Juroviesky wrote in his original post , "What the hell Palo Alto Networks is it 1960? What is this sexist b-------? Incase it's not clear those are real human beings not wax figures."
One user, Suzanne Caron, echoed his sentiments, writing in a comment, "This would be inappropriate even if they weren't wearing lampshades. Women are not 'props.'" A Reddit user reportedly said they left the event early because the display was "creepy" and "gross," the BBC reported.
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The backlash prompted Palo Alto Network CEO Nikesh Arora to release a statement of his own on LinkedIn in response to Rose's comments. "I was saddened to see this picture as I returned last evening from a trip. This is unequivocally not the culture we support, or aspire to be. This is neither consistent with our values, nor in line with our actions and aspiration to support and celebrate women in Cybersecurity, and diversity across our business."
The message continued, "I apologize for what has been perceived as a tone deaf response, I will remedy that today. While I do that, let me add my part."
The CEO then launched into how he would fix the issue. "Ultimately the buck stops at me, and I will step up and take responsibility for this error on our part. I would like to assure you that we will double down and ensure this does not happen again, I would urge you and others to treat this like an isolated incident and not see this as something that Palo Alto Networks stands for. We have worked hard over the last 6 years to learn, try and create a respectful culture, a culture that prides itself on humility, respect and most importantly that respects, promotes and encourages diversity. There is no excuse on our part, thanks again for your consideration."
Other LinkedIn users didn't seem to feel that Arora was being genuine or had approached the situation the correct way, however. Niloo N. wrote, "This is not an apology, it is a business suicide in 'Cyber Risk' feild by announcing it as a 'NOT AWARE' action from their organization! How can anyone trust to do anything about 'Security' with #PaloAlto or #CybersecurityAlliance?! Their statement says it all."
The BBC speculated that the design for the women's outfits and inspiration for their lampshade hats, which obscure most fo their faces, comes from the "booth babes" of the Consumer Electronics Show in the 1960s, which featured women hostesses serving men at nearly all-male events.
The tech industry is largely male-dominated, and concerns have been voiced that women are being shut out or treated poorly and in sexist manners. The lampshade incident doesn't seem to be helping the optics of an already controversial industry.
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