Mobile strippers derailed
Hauling pole dancers around the Strip in a transparent box turned out to be a short-lived marketing stunt.
The owners of the all-nude clubs Déjá Vu Showgirls and Little Darlings on Friday halted the road shows that grabbed widespread attention and stirred a debate about whether this gimmick went too far, even in Las Vegas.
Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who considered it a traffic hazard, welcomed the news.
"There will be no more stripper-mobiles after right now," Sisolak said. "It's gone. It's done."
He commended the clubs' owners for shutting it down. But he said he still planned to push ahead Tuesday with curtailing live entertainment on wheels to prevent vendors from using similar tactics in the future.
Larry Beard, Déjá Vu's marketing director, couldn't be reached Friday to explain why the owners halted the stripper wagon after two weeks.
Earlier this week, Beard said the owners spent about $50,000 leasing the truck to transport the pole dancers.
Showcasing dancers in a rolling Plexiglas box was the kind of creative marketing that's needed to lure patrons during a recession, Beard told the Review-Journal.
The dancers did their risque pole routines on the truck between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., when the clubs are the busiest and children are usually not on the streets, Beard explained.
But shortly after the mobile stage debuted, the owners did an afternoon run at the request of a TV news team. That resulted in more families seeing the spectacle.
Sisolak said he received an e-mail from an outraged woman whose grandchild saw pole dancers perform. Still, he insists his main concern was the distraction that moving bodies -- not just scantily clad ones -- cause drivers.
He worries that this type of promotional ploy, if left unchecked, would lead to mobile shows proliferating and growing more extravagant.
"I'm not opposed to free expression," Sisolak said. "If people want to see dancers, they can go watch them inside the clubs."
Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.
