Porn within advertising, advertising within porn [part one]
Browsing through the MIT Advertising Lab blog I bumped into a short note that referenced a Forbes article titled “Mad. Ave Goes (Soft) Porn,” this is of course an old subject, however, the authors reflect on the new status of porn and its relationship with upscale brands, which is not a new trend but a new combination.
Marshall McLuhan said that “All Advertisements Advertise Advertising,” which is the perfect description of the industry’s self-indulgence (slowly changing to accommodate the business of clients in the middle of the equation, but that’s another conversation), which is probably the genetic link between the two camps (advertising and porn). Thrilling, smart ads used to bring more business to agencies regardless of whether they actually did anything to the client’s bottom line; in the same arena, porn sells itself every time it gets produced.
Unlike other mainstream forms of communication, porn lacks the distraction of product integration, focus groups, overpaid celebrities (with exceptions), and multiple other factors that generate a combination of win-lose scenarios that only create noise. So at the end porn sells itself in the same way as the good old ad industry of the past (not extinct yet).
The Forbes article mentions the Jenna Jameson Adidas podcast and shows a small picture, here is the actual video so you can enjoy such a clever piece of advertising that is probably the quintessential example of the new cross-industry link.