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May 29, 2008 11:14 AM PDT

Best Buy's Geek Squad jumps on 'Sex' fever

by Caroline McCarthy
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A goofy marketing gimmick plants Geek Squad 'agents' in select cities' theaters near screenings for 'Sex and the City,' designed to help male patrons escape the chick flick.

(Credit: Geek Squad)

The movie spinoff of Sex and the City hits theaters Friday, and if the estrogen-fueled near-rioting at its New York premiere is any indicator, it'll be a cinematic event of such shriekingly girly proportions that the average straight man is bound to run and hide.

But Geek Squad, the electronics help service owned by Best Buy, saw it as a potential marketing opportunity. I got an e-mail pitch in my inbox on Thursday explaining a gimmick that the company's pulling in a few cities geared toward men who have been dragged to the theaters for Sex and the City by wives, girlfriends, moms, co-workers, and other female tormenters.

"Not even the Geneva Convention can save us from the torture about to hit screens tomorrow," the release read. "Sure, Sex and the City will be adored by fanatic females that sip cosmos, adorn Manolos and look for their Mr. Big to get them out of credit card debt, but what about the unfortunate men that get dragged to this film?"

Consequently, Geek Squad "agents" will be stationed at select megaplexes in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles to hand out promotional packets containing excuses for maneuvering one's way out of the movie at the last minute, along with quarters for use at the nearest video game arcade. The message: Look, Geek Squad won't just fix your computer, it'll fix your sense of masculinity!

Cute. But here's my advice to the men of the world: If your significant other is making you go see this pink-and-fluffy pastiche, grow a backbone and say no. Unless you forced her to go see 300 with you. Then you're obliged.

Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
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by calpundit May 29, 2008 12:03 PM PDT
>>The message: Look, Geek Squad won't just fix your computer, it'll fix your sense of masculinity!<<

Because, as we all know, nothing fixes one's sense of masculinity like a sales pitch from a self-described "geek".
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by dooey5 May 29, 2008 1:17 PM PDT
Um, the ONLY reason why a wife/girlfriend/sig nif/ whatever would go to see 300 with their husbands/bf's/whatever, is to see the eye candy of muscled men for the gals...so let's not go overboard saying "if you drug her to see 300 then you are obliged...chances are, there wasn't much "dragging" going on.
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by CleanDen May 29, 2008 6:22 PM PDT
grammar police:
past tense of drag = dragged
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by strikepackagebravo May 30, 2008 12:43 AM PDT
Why do men feel the need to let their women run their lives nowadays? I don't get that, my wife doesn't "let" or "make" me do anything, I tell her what I am and am not going to do, and our marriage is stronger because of it. You see, she still respects me so everything else falls into place, including great sex ;) No woman respects, or wants to make love to a door mat,
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by mediocrates--2008 May 30, 2008 10:08 AM PDT
Sheer genius! (Both the GS promo and Caroline's blog.) This is why I'd never dream of dragging my date into "300" or "Beowulf," 'cause I know what the payback would be. The very thought gives me shivers!
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by pjk0 June 1, 2008 1:31 AM PDT
The "Peek Squad" will fix your masculinity, allright.

Best Buy's "Geek Squad" - home of the "geeks" that install secret webcams in female customer's bathrooms in order to spy on them, is now helping men "fix their masculinity".

Yeah - you can keep that kind of masculinity.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/04/geek_squad_tech.html
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About The Social

CNET News' Caroline McCarthy is a downtown Manhattanite who believes that, despite popular opinion, the Web can actually help your social life. She's happily addicted to fun social-media tools from Twitter to Yelp to Facebook, sends an inordinate number of text messages, and has a tendency to waste time at the office reading restaurant blogs. Here, she explores all facets of the Web's gregarious side, as well as the unique tech culture in her home city of New York. (Don't call it Silicon Alley.)

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