PornHub's "SFW" billboard removed from Times Square

PornHub, the internet sexual content provider recently known for dabbling in music, managed to score an earned media hit by getting their new billboard forcibly removed from Times Square, NYC, within 24 hours.

Gothamist writes, "though an advertisement for a porn site would have fit in on 42nd Street a mere 20 or so years ago, the city's long since swapped out the peep shows for a Ripley's Believe It Or Not, and sadly, Pornhub's billboard was removed only hours after its first appearance. We can't have anything fun anymore."

Apparently, a neighbouring hotel managed to get the billboard yanked (so to speak).

Seems like a silly controversy to me, considering competing porn site Brazzers had a rather saucy "get rubber" billboard up there four years ago, complete with sexualized models.

You could say that the PornHub billboard was promoting even safer sex... at least for the viewer.

"#Titcoins" is someone's bad spec idea, right?

Titcoins by Pornhub from Javi Iñiguez de Onzoño on Vimeo.

When this video first made the rounds last week, I filed it under "someone's idea of clever spec work" and kind of forgot about it. Not even worth a comment. Or so I first thought.

After all, PornHub is already in-market internationally with the crowdsourced "SFW advertising contest" which is much more clever than this. But since the mostly-male creative class in global advertising wants to do work that is even more sexist than the stuff that's already out there, we keep getting things like this:

I'm not convinced that PornHub had anything to do with this "ad". The post on Ads Of The World gives credit to a Spanish digital agency called La Despensa, which has a number of known brands in its portfolio. But did anyone at PornHub sign a contract, make an approval, or place this on any media?

Not that they're paragons of virtue. I just can't see them thinking this was a worthwhile regional campaign.

Much more interesting, to me however, is the commentary showing up on the AOTW post:

This is not a place in which I am used to seeing a lot of sensitivity. Is #YesAllWomen even reaching the hardened hearts and burned-out souls of advertising enthusiasts?

Please, say it is so.

This Mormon morality video is all kinds of awkward

This bizarre video, produced for male students at Brigham Young University, is making the rounds of social media. It's awkward, it's painfully slow, and it's actually kind of offensive when you consider how a serious issue such as the mental health of veterans is being exploited to try to convince young men to help their friends stop looking at porn and touching themselves sexually:



The voiceover, according to Business Insider, is delivered by Brigham Young University-Idaho President Kim B. Clark.

I don't have much to add to the internet mockery free-for-all that this video well deserves, except to share the unintentionally hilarious "about" description from the official YouTube channel:

Wasn't the Eye of Sauron always a big...?

Okay, perhaps you're not as jaded as me. But I got more than one giggle out of the yonic symbolism in the manifestation of evil in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of Lord of The Rings.

When I saw this on Ads of The World, however, it occurred to me that perhaps I wasn't the only adman who saw naughtiness in Mordor:

It's just the latest in a trend towards ads that take the "sex sells" axiom to absurd extremes.

Unlike the unappetizing "food porn" campaign I wrote up in November, however, this one at least is literally selling sexuality. Even if it betrays a certain film nerd fetishism in the creative team:

You may remember that gag from Spaceballs:

The other two are more original, but less impactful:

The campaign is by Kinga Grzelewska, Marcin Nowak, Bart Biały and Łukasz Gromkowski at Lowe, Warsaw.

Self-promo video gives new meaning to "food porn"

Lots of agencies and production houses use online video as a way to get noticed. But very few are as sharable as the one NYC boutique studio Kornhaber Brown has just unleashed. It's about sex, which always sells, but it's also deliciously, purposefully awkward in the way it represents various sex acts using food (and a few small appliances).

While technically "safe for work" in that no actual human sexual organs are shown, you may want to get the headphones out if you work in a prudish open-concept office.



Did the chocolate banana make you squirm?

Source: Gawker

Update: Cindy Gallop tells me that the video was inspired by her "Make Love Not Porn" site.

Another good use of sex in advertising

Pornstars bored, waiting for the viewer to get home and watch. It's funny, not oversexed, and makes gentle fun of the audience.

The concept, by Mexico's Arrechedera Claverol, could be done with any genre cliché. I was initially hoping to see many more on Ads of The World.

But there is at least a zombie one:

Nicely done.

Was this ad with an affectionate old couple banned from the Super Bowl because it was for Pornhub?

[video yanked by YouTube, but you can still view it here]

That's what Pornhub claims, anyway. But then again, getting a Super Bowl ad rejected is much better publicity than actually paying $4 million for a 30-second spot. On the YouTube link, Pornhub writes: This was the Super Bowl commercial that was rejected by CBS. What do you think - should it have been rejected? Visit this page to vote Yes or No (link is Safe For Work): http://www.pornhub.com/event/superbowl The page is, in fact, "SFW," but that won't help you explain what you were doing at the pornhub.com domain. My wife knows I have to walk through bad internet neighbourhoods in the name of adblogging, so I'll take one for the team. This is what you get when you click:

As Jezebel's Lindy West writes:

This isn't a particularly interesting ad and I don't really give a care about PornHub (and, yes, obv I know I'm dumping free advertising on them exactly according to their plan), BUT. I love crap like this. Rigging the system! It's like strapping a Game Genie on SOCIETY! Now do it again, only make a commercial that actually entertains me. GO.

Yup.

Larry Flynt offers Richard Mourdock $1 Mil to pose... as a Christian

Via Copyranter

Larry Flynt, longtime porn entrepreneur, is also known for his hatred of conservative politics. Back in 1983, he was sued by televangelist Jerry Falwell for a parody ad that implied the preacher had lost his virginity with his own mother. This September, he offered to pay $1 Million to anyone who could produce Mitt Romney's tax records.

Now, he's offering $1 Million to US Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock to prove his claim that women should not be allowed to get abortions in cases of rape because the pregnancy was something "God intended to happen." The ad ran as a full-page in the Indianapolis Star, reaching the candidate's own voters.

Back in the '70s, Larry Flynt used his million-dollar offers as publicity stunts for his magazine, Hustler, pitching the amount to famous women if they would do a hardcore spread in his mag. The list included Barbara Walters, Cher, Gloria Steinem, Mary Tyler Moore and Patty Hearst, among others. (He recently cut the offer to $500 K for accused child murderer Casey Anthony.)

This stunt is obviously intended to keep the smut baron on the media radar. But at least he's using his outrageous stunt for the good of women this time.

Thou shalt not steal gay porn to protest equal marriage

This digital mailer, paid for by the "Committee to Save the Erie County Republican Party," is an attack on a Republican New York state senator who was the decisive vote in the state's gay marriage legislation.

The rest of it reads, "Sometimes they're political whore$. Make sure your Son says, 'Thank you, Mark Grisanti'." Buzzfeed IDs the "committee" as Matthew Ricchiazzi, a Cornell University graduate who ran a failed campaign for Buffalo mayor.

I was more curious about where the committee got the image. It dosen't look like stock photography, and it is unlikely they did a photo shoot. So I put our a query on my social media networks.

Liam Quin, a follower on Google+ , cropped the image and did a Google similar-image search. Bingo.

The image is from a gay porn movie called Zeb Fucks Wayne (warning: porn link). The photo is from the still on that site. ("I have not actually watched the movie, I'm afraid," Liam adds.)

Stealing is mentioned in the 10 commandments. Same-sex marriage is not. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Church declares "Porn Weekend"

Via Happy Place

It's the work of XXX Church. I've written about them before.

Adult performers against child porn

Via Politics Theory Photography

These posters are part of a Belgian campaign, by Grey Brussels, for the not-for-profit Child Focus. As the video below explains (while using excessive amounts of barely-blurred hardcore porn images), the campaign featured European adult performers "Pussykat" and Rocco Siffredi to push a very simple message of saying "no" to sexual images of underage people.



The case study video is the one being bandied around the adblogs, but I far prefer the actual online PSA:



The idea of using people's interest in legal porn to police the internet for illegal stuff is certainly going to get attention, which it did — all the way up to Belgian parliament. But the execution of the posters and video, at least, is very simple, tasteful and effective.

Via Ads of the World

Playboy's late-life identity crisis

Poor old Playboy doesn't know what to be in the 21st Century.

Founded as somewhat of a countercultural icon for affluent and educated men almost 60 years ago, it played an important (if one-sided) part in the Sexual Revolution and spoke out against McCarthyism. In the '60s, it matured into a brand for the wannabe martini set. But by the '70s, hardcore pornography took away its more horny audiences as it maintained its relevance through top-notch interviews and celebrity pictorials. In the '80s, it was all about video.

Now, here we are in the digital age. Pictures of naked women are abundant and free. So is interesting and subversive content. So what's left for Playboy?

I think their biggest problem is that sex, culture and politics are no longer a man's exclusive domain. Playboy will never be able to shake its basically sexist brand character, and who wants to be associated with that?

The douchebag market, that's who. Young men who read Maxim and wear Axe.

To compete with Maxim, Playboy launched The Smoking Jacket, an online ladmag that covers culture, entertainment and boobies with a less overtly-pornographic, teasing style. Fellow adblogger Steve Hall, from Adrants, is one of the contributors. (He pens a "sexy ads of the week" column.)

And Axe?

Check out this Playboy shower gel ad by DDB Paris:



Yeah, it's a shitty ad. It's also extremely creepy. Can you imagine how a young woman would feel if a strange man, alone with her in the elevator, hit the emergency button? She'd be expecting the worst.

I don't really know if Playboy has a future as a serious brand. It could be that, in a few years, it will only survive as a logo worn ironically (or desperately) by attention-seeking young women.

What do you think?

Needlessly creepy parental control ads

Why so creepy? My guess is that the Art Director watches a lot of vintage porn.

Unfortunately, the "parent" in these ads ends up looking like a predator. Which is pretty much the opposite of what was intended. (Also, why is the supposed protagonist made of porn? Hmmm...)

Ads by Sancho BBDO, Bogota, Colombia.

Via Ads Of The World

Parapornal activity #FdAdFriday

Horror hides in a box of porn...

Remember last Christmas, when Acart Communications did that Paranormal Activity spoof? We weren't the first to parody the horror franchise, and we won't be the last.

But I don't think anyone will ever make a weirder one than this:



This trailer was made to attract attention to Christian "Comedian*" Rich Praytor's campaign to make his big idea — of combining borrowed interest from Paranormal Activity, Poltergeist and other pop memes, bad jokes, and a morality play about pornography — into a feature film.

According to the Kickstarter page:

Why are we doing a project like this?     
Because films are not only entertaining but they're also a way to teach people.  Society learns their morals and values through music, film and television.  Pornography is such a huge problem that simply telling someone how dangerous it is usually doesn't work.  You have to tell a compelling story to catch someone's attention and then educate them while they're being entertained.  

Praytor promises to let big donors actually take part in the making of the film: For $250, you can "be apart [sic] of a creative brainstorming session with the cast and crew via Skype or in person (transportation not included)"; for $500, they'll name a character after you; for $3500, they'll fly you  to Colorado Springs to direct one of four scenes created from your ideas; $5000 gets you the Executive Producer credit.

But the best deal is the $7500 option:

"The director and two actors will travel to your location (continental United States only) for the day and shoot a scene you created. You will also direct the scene and spend the day with the team."
The subversive potential of being able to write and direct a scene in a low-budget Christian comedo-horror almost seems worth the money.

*And why did I put "comedian" in quotes?

Here is some of Praytor's earlier Christian comedy gold:




Tip via Buzzfeed

Pornterest

Today, Buzzfeed published an amusing post about how the word "porn" is used on Pinterest (a social scrapbooking site where people gather favourite online images) to describe anything they like looking at.

And not just the trendy term "food porn" either:

"Fishing Gear Porn"

"Word Porn"

"Real Estate Porn"

What I found particularly amusing about this (besides the fact that someone innocently called their board "dog porn") is that this morning Jezebel had a post about the actual Pinterest of Porn, called "Snatchly". (The link is safe — it goes to a signup page.)

Worlds are colliding. Or, rather, "words".

But let's just hope this overuse of the p-word doesn't end in tragedy, when an innocent sweet tooth in need of some delicious Pudding Porn ends up instead conjuring up two girls and a cup over on the wrong network.

"Geometric Porn" is not coming on your iPhone #FdAdFriday

"Something abstract existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence. Visual geometry containing the non-explicit description of sexual organs or activity. Arising in the mind it intends to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings."

I never thought math could be so dirty. Watch the demo videos, by Luciano Foglia, if you dare to enter the abstractly sexual world of Geometric Porn.

The designer himself says:

"Suitable for children. While there are innumerable ways that pornography harms children, Geometric Porn will not traumatise them in any way. The content of this website is suitable for children aged 4 or over 4+."

Nonetheless, Apple rejected the app, stating:

"Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected. We found that many audiences would find your app concept objectionable, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines."

 Judge for yourself...


Geometric Porn App Preview from Luciano Foglia on Vimeo.



   

He also sells t-shirts:

Tip via kottke

These porn ads are so fatuous

These ads for MTS's Amour TV "adult" channel remind me of that great scene in The Big Lebowski.

İzleyin: Geleneksel Big Lebowski festivali

[Maude shows the porn video starring Bunny to the Dude]
Sherry in 'Logjammin': [on video] "You must be here to fix the cable."
Maude Lebowski: Lord. "You can imagine where it goes from here."
The Dude: "He fixes the cable?"
Maude Lebowski: "Don't be fatuous, Jeffrey"

But in these ads, the creative team at Dare Vancouver isn't being fatuous at all:


Amour 'Dirty Pool' from thisisdare on Vimeo.



Amour 'Officer Biggs' from thisisdare on Vimeo.



Amour 'Special Delivery' from thisisdare on Vimeo.


Personally, I think it would have been even better as a campaign for censorware.

Tip Via Ads of The World
Embeds via Joey Tomatoes 

Playboy celebrates getting caught looking at porn

Because, hey! Who wouldn't rather look at heavily photoshopped wannabe actresses' naked bodies rather than spending time with loved ones...

Or working...

Or doing nothing at all?

Clever idea, but it makes me kind of sad for the target audience.

For Playboy's Spanish "TV" web site, by Y&R Argentina. (You wonder if they ever get any work done down there.)

Note that, once again, all creative teams assume everyone owns a Mac.

Via Ads of the World

How can a woman make more than a man in the same career?

Just ask Sasha Grey:





This PSA from Belgium's Equal Pay Day movement is an interesting one. The message, "Porn is about the only way for women to make more than men" highlights the problem of women being valued more for the sexual pleasure they can give to men (either directly or voyeuristically) than for non-sexualized accomplishments.

From the cause site:

On average, women still earn 22% less than men. One of the main reasons this issue still exists is that too often young women make career choices led by general expectations. Equal Pay Day however wants to motivate them to think about these expectations, and not just follow them blindly. Sasha Grey wants to as well, and to help spark the debate, she's agreed to share the story about her short but demanding career in adult entertainment.

At the same time, Ms. Grey is an unashamed and defiantly un-regretful case study in life after porn. She has managed to cross over, perhaps more than any hard core female "adult" performer before her, even though her reputation occasionally gets in the way of her trying to be an average citizen.

Does her refusal to vilify the industry that is being used as the extreme example of sexist attitudes in the workplace help or hinder the message?

Via Illegal Advertising

Liquid-Plumr porn #FdAdFriday

A hunky plumber comes to a lonely woman's door, telling her "I'm here to snake your drain". A second arrives shortly after, saying "I'm here to flush your pipe".

You can imagine what happens next... 

Don't be fatuous!

Via AdFreak