2009 is a
breakthrough for the
advertising of
erotica piped into the
home, for it marks the debut of the "Erotic Network"
ad campaign. And what is it that makes this
campaign unique in the
anals -- er,
annals -- of
adult channel advertising
history? Typical ads for adult channels have centered on
steamy (if
censored)
snippets
telegraphing the kind of
action you can expect to get on this channel. Sexy voiced
vixens
throatily intone on the
hotness,
wetness, and
sexiness of their
broadcast fare,
narrating flashes of
skin and
sin.
But the Erotic Network has taken a wholly different tack. Its ad series centers on a
bearded,
guitar-toting
interloper who pops in on folks --
individuals or in
couples -- to
strum and
sing a
folksy
tune (reminiscent of
Bob Dylan's
Blowin' In the Wind, in fact)
reassuring customers (always seated on the
couch) that they indeed have the
right to watch porn. In fact, a line common to all versions of the song says "there's nothing you can't do in your own home." The purpose of the commercial seems not so much to advertise the product as to reassure people that they -- like the
normal looking folks who are
plum pleased to be the recipients of this
serenade -- that it is just fine and dandy to import
crackling wisps of
electrified porn into your
household.
And, well, naturally it is. But this is
bold. This is a producer of the goods not just honing in on those who already yearn for erotica without
shame, but those who may be on the fence about whether its
okay, and simply need a
friendly and
innocuous sort of
person to tell them, yeah, it's okay. The ads actually take a two-prong attack on the
question, first pitching the
libertarian notion that what you watch what you wish under your own
roof, and the second equating sex films with
love, suggesting it as a product that can promote conjugal bliss. The
tagline even is "The Erotic Networks fill your home with love." Here at last is the long-awaited ad campaign lightheartedly promoting the liberating message of the right to enjoy porn behind closed doors and with positive results.