Sex Tape Celebrity Videos Fund the Entire Porn Industry, Apparently
Well, America's dirty obsession with celebrity is apparently what's also keeping the porn industry afloat. A Fox News report on the state of the porn industry revealed that legitimately produced celebrity sex tapes are what are bankrolling the entire industry. The shift to this surprisingly sustainable business model is based off an unsurprisingly sustainable American attitude.
An the unnamed source for the Fox piece stated "[adult entertainment group]Vivid only makes money from celeb tapes. A porn video generates no income. Celebrity tapes sell." Americans actually pay for these videos.
To those who can't believe that, let me ask you: have you watched a Miley Cyrus or Robin Thicke music video because the Internet went a buzz with how risqué they are? If so, that's the same attitude that the porn industry has capitalized on to survive. There is an obsession with celebrity, and that is often linked to the risqué.
The celebrity sex-tape relationship has both a top-down and bottom-up approach (puns probably intended). Look to Kim Kardashian. Is it any surprise that Keeping Up With the Kardashians became a household television name after her sex tape with Ray J? She had threatened legal action until that deal too. Everything Kim does now, like her relationship with Kanye West, is amplified by the fact that she had a sex-tape before. Kanye just made headlines (again) by dissing Ray J. I wonder why.
Then there's the 15-minute celebrity that wants to add another 15 (at least 10 to sell) minutes to their career. This is the top-down approach. Farrah Abraham, a focus of the cable series Teen Mom, professionally produced a sex tape with porn star James Deen and distributed it to "celebrate [her] awesome body".
But this isn't about whether or not Abraham wants to show off her post-child-bearing body, though. It's about her increasing the celebrity associated with her. Farrah knows America will buy it and she'll be even more famous. Look at Kim: A sex-tape made her a celebrity, and now she's the mother of Kanye's child! Look how far a one-night production will take you.
Well, those celebrities certainly make it interesting for Americans. We get our kicks with seeing celebrities take that extra step to get bigger and that's exactly what enables them. With obsession and ego on the line, it makes the business side of the porn industry look the most admirable.
Sorry crusaders against pornography; the last obstacle is inherently American. We're obsessed with celebrities, and Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke have shown that we'll follow that obsession to dirty, dirty places. The porn industry owes America a thank you.
