PAX East is among the biggest conventions in gaming, with thousands upon thousands of people flocking to Boston every year in order to check out the latest and greatest the video game industry has to offer.
There is, however, one negative side effect of all that excitement. Do you know what happens when thousands upon thousands of people are all crammed into a convention hall?
It smells. It smells really, really bad. Thankfully, Twitch and Old Spice have partnered together to hand out free deodorant (full and travel-size) to PAX East convention visitors in an effort to stem the tide of overwhelming body odor.
There is no word yet on whether or not it's working. Getting rid of that notorious convention smell isn't easy. To effectively eliminate bad BO, Twitch is going to need way more deodorant than we've seen in pictures from the show floor. However, it is nonetheless a noble endeavor.
The promotion does send a bit of a wrong message, despite its good intentions. The stereotype of the lonely, greasy gamer who knows little of personal hygiene, is, unfortunately, one that still rears its ugly head now and again. That a video game-oriented company like Twitch would bring free deodorant to a gaming convention and not think about the kind of message it sends is a bit of a bummer. Gamers (for the most part) are just as clean as everybody else!
It's simply a matter of fact that all conventions end up being smelly, as anybody who has ever attended a major one can attest to. It has nothing to do with the sweaty gamers or comic book fans in attendance and more with the fact that any building that is jam-packed with thousands of people running back and forth for four days straight is going to produce some less-than-great odors. With that in mind, we salute Twitch for fighting the good fight. Hopefully, its efforts are making the convention a little less smelly, one free deodorant at a time.
#PAXEast hero we need spotted @Twitch. pic.twitter.com/uYDWder6XC
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) April 22, 2016
