Advertising during sporting events is about to take a fascinating turn, specifically in Italy’s Serie A. According to Corriere dello Sport, Pornhub (yes the adult website) has offered to sponsor a team for a year, all expenses paid. In exchange, Pornhub will (presumably) plaster their logo on the team’s jerseys and paraphernalia. Which, frankly, is a great deal for all parties involved.
According to Corriere dello Sport, Pornhub are looking to sponsor a team in Italy for one year, covering all of the team’s expenses.
— Thomas Coast (@thcoast) November 9, 2015
This, of course, isn’t Pornhub’s first attempt advertising for a team. In 2014, the Rutherford Raiders were having trouble finding a sponsor. They jokingly slapped the Pornhub logo on the front of the jersey and went to town.
PornSnub: Kent Uni BAN Rutherford Raiders’ saucy sponsorhttp://t.co/8I1AOXcBJR pic.twitter.com/G2AmpvrF5p
— The Tab Kent (@TheTabKent) October 30, 2014
It was a prank at first, but it caught the attention of the website, who quickly stepped in with an offer the team couldn’t refuse. Everything was fine and dandy until the school put the kibosh on it by saying, “The University of Kent sports department would never sanction sponsorship of this type – it is totally inappropriate.”
And therein lies the problem. What is inappropriate when it comes to advertising? Is it alcohol? Certainly not. A number of leagues around the globe have large deals with beer and liquor companies. Is it sex? Well, GoDaddy used racy ads for years during the Super Bowl. Worked well for them too as they became the world’s largest domain operator in large part because of amusing ads like this.
So are we really going to pretend like sex doesn’t sell? Some of history’s most popular advertisements reeked of sexual innuendo. This 1992 commercial with Cindy Crawford is widely regarded as the zenith of Pepsi commercials.
Yes, that’s a commercial for a caffeinated beverage. Now imagine for a second we took away the machine and replaced it with a computer. And Cindy Crawford walked up to that computer in a seductive manner and the commercial ended with a Pornhub logo.
And scene. That’s it.
Is the context of the commercial that much different now?
Online adult video isn’t going away anytime soon. Hell it’s been around since the infancy of the Internet. And Pornhub? Yeah, it’s one of the most successful business enterprises on the web, encompassing dozens of highly trafficked websites including YouPorn and Redtube and is owned by a global IT company called MindGeek. It is here to stay. It is here to give you advertising dollars for your sports league and team. Sure, these leagues might be reluctant now, but in the end, money talks. And when they run out of what they deem as safe sponsors, they’ll look for anyone willing to cut a check (NASCAR anyone?). And if that anyone is a company where you just happen to watch adult videos, well, so be it. There are worse things in the world.
[VICE]
