Portfolio.com
April 23, 2012
Just what Groupon didn’t need at a time when it’s stock is already getting whipped: a call for a boycott from a morality group concerned about its deal for a tour of a pornography studio that produces videos featuring sadomasochism.
Over the weekend, a brouhaha erupted over a Groupon San Francisco deal to take a 90-minute tour of Kink.com, a historic armory turned porn studio in San Francisco. Over 120 sets of two passes had sold for $28 each by Friday evening, according to TV news outlet NBC Bay Area.
This was the second time that Groupon had offered a deal for Kink—and that was twice too many for Morality in Media.
“Selling coupons supporting the degradation of women is as low as a publicly traded company can go,” Morality in Media executive director Dawn Hawkins said in a press release that asks consumers to sign a pledge against the company’s Kink deal and for a nationwide boycott of Groupon. The War on Illegal Pornography has also joined the effort, the NBC affiliate reports.
Kink, which offers online videos, advertises that it has “young, sexy teens who are overwhelmed and outnumbered…who need to learn a lesson by multiple men,” and women being “bound, whipped, objectified, and humiliated. They are immobilized, caged, and humiliated as objects,” Hawkins wrote.
For its part, Groupon reportedly said it vetted the deal, which is only open to patrons who are 18 or over.
When confronted about their choice to feature this company, Groupon, according to Morality in Media, responded as follows: “We thoroughly vet the businesses we feature. Fortunately, this business has proven to be a responsible member of their community.”
