The contest caused an online outrage with the company having to apologise for the campaign being in bad taste According to CNN, Czech Power generation conglomerate CEZ decided it would be an innovative idea for ten high school graduates to strip down to their bikinis and pose in a cooling tower of its Temelin nuclear power plant. Administrators at the Nuclear Power Station organised a photo-shoot with the scantily-clad hopefuls in one of the station’s cooling towers to then decide the victor.
The company then shared the racy photographs globally by uploading them to Facebook, and ‘fans’ were asked to vote and comment on their favourite of the line-up, stating that the girl with the most popular picture would win a 14-day internship and crowned as ‘Miss Energy 2017’.
Unsurprisingly, the stunt caused an online uproar with many wondering how a good bikini body would necessarily correlate with a fine nuclear brain – some called the campaign ‘sexist and embarrassing.’
Ten girls all applied for the internship (Picture: Facebook/ Infocentrum JE Temel)
Katarina Willenfort wrote: ‘How many of the male employees of that plant would get to keep their job if we got to vote on their looks?
‘Show us their bodies on Facebook now since that’s where you think competence lies. Dimwits…’
CEZ claimed all the women enjoyed taking part saying on their social media networks, ‘We think photographs are very tasteful. The combination of beauty and the industrial environment gives an interesting result.’
Petra Havlíková, a human rights lawyer, told aktualne.cz that the competition “is absolutely outside the bounds of ethics”.
“In 2017, I find it incredible that someone could gain a professional advantage for their good looks.”
The company insisted all the women were to wear hats in the pictures (Picture: Facebook/ Infocentrum JE Temel)
The company soon realised they were fighting a losing battle and apologised two days later on Facebook saying: ‘The purpose of the competition was to promote technical education,” the post read.
‘But if the original vision raised doubts or concerns, we are very sorry.’
A spokesperson also said all ten women would be offered internships.
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