from www.thepioneer.com – Walking through many aisles of videos, one can get lost staring at the countless comedy and action titles. But lurking behind the usually innocent movie titles may be something quite unexpected.
At Rogers Plus in Trenton, lying in the action section is the well-known soft-porn film, Pirates, a sexual spoof of the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean. It would be very easy for someone to pick up this movie, unaware of its content, and mistake it for a family action movie.
“If someone picks it up and comes to the counter, all the staff know about the film and are instructed to point out that it is an adult movie and has those scenarios in it,” says Nicole Couvrette, store manager.
This is an unusual thing for Rogers, as there are only two titles of that nature in the store, she says.
With no “restricted” section to display the movie, Rogers Plus recently took the initiative to print a special warning sticker to place on the film.
“As manager, it is important that people know what they’re getting. They have to know that they are getting this, instead of the Johnny Depp version,” says Couvrette.
Other rental stores have run into similar situations with adult sex films.
L.A. Video store owner, Trevis Ellis, had an adult section in his store but after seven years, he took it out and made his store family-friendly.
“Anybody can walk into my store, my five-year-old can walk in and feel comfortable,” he says.
Town and Country Video has a restricted section to keep adult sex films from the eyes of young children.
There are two versions of Pirates in the store, one rated “R” and another “X”, says Gavin Dunham-Carter, manager of Town and Country Video. Rated “R” simply means it has a lot of sex, nudity and coarse language. Many films are rated “R”, but not all need to be placed in the “restricted” section, he added.
“Many mainstream films have objectionable content in them,” says Dunham-Carter.
“It was a personal choice to make the restricted section. It’s there for privacy and so kids won’t have to see them,” he says.
Rogers Plus and Blockbuster in Belleville declined to comment.