Every day, millions of young men, women and adults take a stand against the creation and consumption of pornography in all its forms. This is an incredibly noble move, especially considering how pornography continues to become more mainstream and, as a result, more socially acceptable.
Living a porn-free life and being vocal about this harmful phenomenon be known is an incredible fight for love, but what about standing out against companies who help fuel pornography’s success with their marketing dollars?
Much like a vegan who buys products from a butcher shop, purchases from certain retailers might be fueling the demand for the very thing someone might be trying to avoid: pornography.
Why advertise on porn sites?
The world of internet pornography has become a very different place in the last decade, if you haven’t noticed.
With the popularly of “tube” porn (video sites where users can upload and archive their own videos—thanks for the idea, YouTube), paid-for-porn has become a thing of the past. No more teasers, no more credit card information—porn is basically free for everyone, everywhere, at any given time. This was obviously bad news for the porn world, however, porn consumption has never been higher, with a major porn site revealing they had 28.5 billion searches on their site in 2017.
It wasn’t long before advertisers took to porn sites to share their products and services with the millions of daily porn consumers. For a fraction of what advertisements cost on Google, Facebook or other popular digital ad sites, companies could place their ads on XXX sites, reaching an already captured audience.
Eat24
Eat24, an online delivery service in the United States saw a tremendous success with this strategy and even took an already-controversial step forward with ads that read “BTL with your BDSM?” and “Porn doesn’t watch itself,” implying the consumer should order and have their food delivered all without having to press pause on their erotic flick.
Diesel
Diesel, the Italian fashion giant, has been advertising on multiple porn sites for some time now. Diesel’s already-racy ads have been featured on some of the world’s most popular porn sites, and with substantial success.
Why did they take their ads to XXX sites? According to their PR manager at the time, it made sense for the Diesel campaign, which was already advertising intimates and underwear to young people, to put these marketing materials in their face while they’re already thinking about sex. Classy, right?
Upscale designers
Other upscale fashion designers have shown no fear when it comes to pornographic controversies. Marc Jacobs once gave a pornography production crew permission to film an erotic flick in his Soho store location. Other companies like Groupon, the online coupon company, offer services that promote a pornographic lifestyle such has tours of the largest torture porn studio in San Francisco (probably as bad as it sounds), as well as tours of the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
Our friends at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) recently came out with their 2018 ‘Dirty Dozen List’, a compilation of leading contributors of sexual exploitation in America. Unfortunately, many well-known and well-liked brands, companies and organizations chose to place ads on popular porn sites in order to reach a large mass of already-captivated audiences. (That’s why Super Bowl commercials are so popular. Where else can you find 100 million people confined to one channel or site? Oh yeah—porn sites!)
While this seems like a clever marketing maneuver, NCOSE helps to shine a light on these culprits who perpetuate sexual exploitation—whether it be through placing ads on porn sites or through other means—so consumers (that’s YOU!) can make an educated decision on whether or not to continue endorsing their products or services.
Let’s take a quick look at their ‘Dirty Dozen List’ for this year.
Amazon
Sorry Amazon Primers! While this online department store juggernaut is guilty of promoting material that sexualizes children and normalizes the dehumanization and sexual commodification of women by selling items like childlike sex dolls, photography books with eroticized child nudity, pornographic magazines, and clothing items, and more. Not cool.
Roku
This leading media streaming company has found a loyal fanbase by advertising their product on popular porn sites. In addition to providing its users the ability to stream television programs, movies, music, and more, on their personal devices, Roku also facilitates access to hardcore pornography channels through hundreds of private and hidden channels.
Comcast
“You mean the cable and internet provider?” Yep! This American telecommunications conglomerate provides numerous services to its many customers including our beloved cable television and high-speed internet. However, Comcast’s Xfinity also peddles pornography that promotes incest, racism, sexism, prostitution, violence and exploitation via its video-on-demand and premium channel services.
Snapchat
What undoubtedly started as a way to communicate explicitly with the assured privacy of a “once you see it, it’s gone” method, Snapchat has become one of the most used social media platforms of this day (well, that is until Instagram Stories came out—watch out, Snapchat!). Unfortunately, the built-in feature Snapcash has enabled Snapchat and its users to monetize and profit from the exchange of pornography. Think of it like an app for camming.
You can view the rest of the NCOSE 2018 ‘Dirty Dozen List’ on their website.
Know What You’re Supporting
When you’re fighting for a cause you believe in, it’s important to know if you’re unintentionally supporting what you’re fighting against. Are they fueling sexual exploitation in their products or services, or are they promoting their seemingly innocent products and services (like a food delivery system) on a XXX site?
Chances are, you won’t want to continue giving them your hard-earned cash.
Know the power of your purchase. Keep current on certain companies’ practices to ensure they don’t fuel exploitation.
Get Involved
Expose these companies for profiting off porn and speak out so other companies don’t cross that line. SHARE this article to spread the word and stop the demand for sexual exploitation.
Spark Conversations
This movement is all about changing the conversation about pornography. When you rep a tee, you can spark meaningful conversation on porn’s harms and inspire lasting change in individuals’ lives, and our world. Are you in? Check out all our styles in our online store, or click below to shop:
