from www.anyclip.com – For years the porn industry had been riding the backs of Hollywood movies, exploiting them for story-lines and brands for the making of their own porn parodies.
It was a one-sided deal as Hollywood wouldn’t be able to do the same as no one would be interested in the non-sexual version of Deep Throat or Debbie does Dallas (which I guess would have been called Debbie visits Dallas and Has an Okay Time.)
And so, the Hollywood studios had to make do with the occasional porn-related bio-pic and the odd documentary, knowing full well that they’d probably not be blockbusters, as their target audience is limited due to MPAA ratings. For the large part, Hollywood gave in and officially avoided the porn industry.
And then, lo and behold! A revolution.
Surfing the web one night, doing what people surfing the web at night do, I stumbled upon an interesting pre-roll, playing in front of a clip on youporn.com.
Turns out Paramount Vantage, the (major) studio behind the upcoming Middle Men had found it fitting to advertise the R-Rated film in front of an adult clip on a porn site. You know what? It is both logical and probably will work. Here is why:
Middle Men tells the story of the three pioneers who in 1995 brought the XXX to the (then emerging) WWW. It is somehow reminiscent of Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flynt and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, as it tells the story of a revolution originating in the business opportunities inherent in sex.
In other words – it tells the story of men, business, sex, and probably involves a fair share of violence. Where better to market this than on sites frequented mainly by men?
The risk Paramount Vantage is taking with this pertains to their brand and the fact that they are now putting money (i.e. supporting) the porn industry. But then, who would complain?
People seeing this on youporn.com cannot really bemoan obscenity, since they saw this pre-roll on a porn site. Also, making a big deal out of this would only bring people to the theater. I am wondering how many of those going to watch the film on its first weekend were made aware of it by being exposed to it first on porn sites. It is something worth checking out, and I am pretty sure Paramount Vantage will check it. Hopefully they’ll make the results public.
Hmmm…. if this works, does it mean that Hollywood would start cashing back on the porn parodies as well? Will we see a pre-roll advertising the new Batman 3 in front of clips of Batman XXX? Imagine the exposure!
Now all that remains is that Middle Men turns out to be a good movie, and then it will be remembered both as such and as the marketing pioneer that it is.
Middle Men (2010)
Directed by George Gallo
Starring: Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Gabriel Macht, James Caan
August 6 in theaters everywhere