Out of curiosity why is it embarrassing? I bet that if I'll ask some female friends from the industry what they think of the article, none of them will complain about this.
It's like a sensationalist link-bait title, but more visible. I really dislike that opening industry news has a high probability of looking like I'm reading a tabloid to anyone who walks by my cube. Seriously, if someone walked by and sees a 30 in monitor with a large picture of some girls cleavage do you really think they'll buy that I was reading about open source photo editing software? It reminds me of the old joke: "I read playboy for the articles."
Maybe I'm unreasonable, I'm open to that conclusion.
I just find myself think "really guys, how does that picture say anything about this article" incredibly often. It seems tacky.