Bad taste: Bar hires women to lie naked and act as serving trays

Activists called on patrons to boycott the bar after it hired models to lie naked on tables during its launch party. Photo / Twitter

This is what happens when a PR stunt backfires.

An upmarket bar in Sydney has caused outrage after hiring women to lie naked on the table with food on their bodies during a major event - with the models even made to hand feed guests.

People are threatening to boycott Cruise Bar, a popular venue at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney's Circular Quay, following the spectacle at their relaunch party on Wednesday night.

Women's advocate Melinda Tankard-Reist is one of the many objectors and she hopes people take a stand against the bar for "objectifying" women.

"I hope people decide to boycott Cruise Bar en masse for treating women like trays," she said.

"It is part of the ongoing objectification of women to use them as serving trays and just part of the buffet. It suggests they are part of the buffet really - saying "help yourself to the women's bodies."

The co-founder of Collective Shout hopes the bar faces serious ramifications for the display.

"Someone has to tell this company it's the 21st century and this is not appropriate. I hope they're punished,' said Ms Tankard-Reist.

"It's objectifying (the models) for male pleasure and gratification because I imagine it will be mostly men enjoying that."

Academic Melanie James said she was both saddened and angered by the nearly nude display, labeling it unacceptable. "The topless women are allowed only skimpy, skin-coloured underwear. I just feel sick, sad and angry. Confirms why we need feminism," she said.

Activist Felicity Wright was outraged when she saw naked women were being used to promote the venue.

"Using a naked woman's body as a business promotion in this context is inappropriate and out-dated. Men used prostitutes bodies' as dining tables in this manner in brothels," she said.

"I don't know one single female, colleague, family, or friend, who would not feel demeaned by attending a function at which a woman was acting in the same manner as a prostitute. Is it a bar or a brothel? Pick one but don't blend them and expect women to tag along. This is nothing more than a cheap misogynistic publicity stunt."

- Daily Mail