Audi sales manager: Women are like cars
“UNITED Magazines’ weekly Anna has compiled a special issue about infl uential people in marketing and the media.”
“One of the people presenting his lively views on life is Audi’s sales manager, MSc Esko Kiesi, who examines his relationship with the opposite gender in Anna’s Mies puhuu naisesta (A man talks about women) series. It is easy to talk about cars and women, according to Kiesi, because ‘all the traits of cars can be found in women.’ ‘The finishing touches to a car’s appearance are applied with suspension and tyres – to me a woman’s ankles and shoes are important, and a woman often loses her figure if she’s wearing heels that are less than seven centimeters long,’ Kiesi says and adds that he looks at a woman in the same order that he looks at a new car: starting from the bottom and continuing upwards, i.e. from shoes, ankles and legs to body and clothes. The eyes are left for last. According to Kiesi’s experiences, a woman – when she wants to – can be ‘a pretty cold creature: she can manipulate and be mean much easier than a man.’ With age, femininity has become ever more important a quality in a woman to Kiesi.
‘I need a woman more and more for things she is meant for, such as being desirable and good to a man.
Nowadays it’s very important to me that my woman and I have a lot in common, like a similar education level and values. I also greatly appreciate it that the woman irons my shirts; such a gesture contains a lot of symbolism. When the woman refuses to iron or clean you could say that the relationship is on its last legs, so to speak.’
In Kiesi’s opinion, a woman’s suitable age is defined well in Naisen opas (Woman’s guide), printed in 1948: It is the man’s age divided by two plus seven. Therefore for Kiesi, 59, a suitably aged woman is 36-37 years old.”
A few days later Kiesi resigned from his job and apologized for the comments, which drew animated criticism and debate in the online and print media.