Poll: Porn ads? Really?

[Landrius]

Just because the porn is being offered on the PS3 doesn't mean it's actually gaming related.

It seems a bit hypocritical for the Escapist to allow these ads up whenever the users can't even really link to a picture of a tasteful nude. Don't get me wrong, I realize this could have just gotten sneaked in somewhere and that the people at the escapist don't necessarily want to advertise this...but still, my point stands.

More than that though....I'M SICK OF TITS! I am! I'm so sick of seeing boobs everywhere. Between ads and images from various video games, I'm just tired of skimpily dressed women showing off their tits.

Where's the sugarDVD ad with a man in his boxers? Equality people!

I'm compelled to say that I don't think the point you make there does stand under the condition that the Escapist don't know about it and would not have done it on purpose. How can they be hypocritical when this wasn't their doing? As someone else said, ads aren't chosen by the Escapist. They contract to an ad company who chooses what gets on there.

Of course, if this was done on purpose then that is certainly hypocritical. Until we know, though, we can't say whether or not this is hypocrisy.

Although on your other point, I agree. Equality would be nice to see, though here the equality I would like to see is "No porn ads on the Escapist! For everyone!" That's just me, though.

It's like the Meebo fiasco; the main thing that annoyed me about it is that it was a kind of ad that, in general, you only find on porn sites and other malware ridden parts of the internet. It made the place look disreputable, like the kind of website you would be embarrassed to be caught browsing in a public place. These ads are that times 10.

I'm afraid that I have no idea about the Meebo thing you're referring to, but if it was an ad-related thing like this I can see what you're saying I think. I agree with you; it does make this site seem disreputable. I don't want these ads here either.

I just don't feel like we have enough information to justify any kind of reaction beyond getting this to the attention of the Escapist and seeing what they say.

 

[Evil Smurf]

OT: Pubclub master race!

Assemble!

yea man? I am here

 

[crimson5pheonix]

OT: Pubclub master race!

Assemble!

Pubclubbers, HO!

Heh, "ho".

...

I'm sorry.

OT: Woops.

 

[Space Spoons]

To cut a long reply short, yes, you are being a prudish American.

You can deny it all you like, but the simple fact of it is that the common gamer crowd is part of the porn industry's primary demographic. The Escapist needs ad revenue if it is going to continue to function, and if porn companies have the ad dollars, they deserve the ad space.

If you really find it more personally offensive than ads for games where you can blow people's heads off and the like, there's always ad-block.

 

[Joccaren]

As long as we get warnings/suspensions/banned for linking to porn - this is really not ok.
As I see the above as a fully fair and reasonable rule, I don't see these sort of adds in general as ok. If I wanted porn adds I'd go to a porn site.
Now, it is fully possible - and probable - that the Escapist doesn't/didn't know about this. Now that they hopefully do, it should be fixed.

 

[Comando96]

........................... just no.

Is this site aimed at people who are under the age at which they can legally view porn? Yes.
Should a site aimed at people who are under the legal age at which they can view porn advertise porn? No...

Escapist... why are, or did you ever consider advertising porn... or did a Mod leave and this was his/her leaving joke?

 

[Nouw]

OT: Pubclub master race!

Assemble!

I came.[sub]I couldn't resist, don't hurt me oh wise one![/sub]

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Actually, I had an idea just as I was trying to get some shut eye!

Here it is:

Instead of The Escapist banning people for the promotion of ad-blocks, I think that every time some user goes and does this, a Mod or an automated messager appears on the thread quoting the person who promoted this use of ad-blocks and the message appears below it:

"Yeah, you could go about doing that...OR...[insert PubClub promotion here]".

To me, this makes more sense as it's advertising AND competing against whatever said user promoted in the first place, be it just the vague use of the word "ad-block" or something else more specific. It also gives The Escapist more opportunities to generate more revenue for their business without running the hypocritical practice of banning people.

OK, now going back to sleep!

 

[Evil Smurf]

1.get ad-blocker
2.turn it on
3.???
4.profit

also, better than a shitty UPS logistics ad

Advocating adblocker is against the rules.

Prepare yourself for a warning.

OT: Pubclub master race!

Assemble!

You know daystar, I think the pubclub is actually missing out on this one, thanks to things like this:

Spoiler: I only read it for the articles, I swear!

the redhead is Faye Reagan. Don't ask me how I know. Just "google" her

 

[ExploreHer]

lol, are these targetted ads? if so then half of you got busted by google.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

........................... just no.

Is this site aimed at people who are under the age at which they can legally view porn? Yes.
Should a site aimed at people who are under the legal age at which they can view porn advertise porn? No...

Escapist... why are, or did you ever consider advertising porn... or did a Mod leave and this was his/her leaving joke?

The mods don't have anything to do with it; certain staff members do. Really, this is just the latest (and one of the most egregious) in a long line of advertising problems they've had over the years. Usually it's because they go over the top with something annoying, but this isn't exactly out of the pattern for them. They were having a really hard time getting advertisers to sign up for a while, which is why they had funding problems that lead to several content creators, notably the Extra Credits crew, leaving, and also why they have a history of stupid but undoubtably lucrative advertisement campaigns such as this one.

1.get ad-blocker
2.turn it on
3.???
4.profit

also, better than a shitty UPS logistics ad

Advocating adblocker is against the rules.

Prepare yourself for a warning.

OT: Pubclub master race!

Assemble!

You know daystar, I think the pubclub is actually missing out on this one, thanks to things like this:

Spoiler: I only read it for the articles, I swear!

the redhead is Faye Reagan, I won't tell you how I know. I will tell you to "look her up"

the redhead is Faye Reagan. Don't ask me how I know. Just "google" her

Hmm... good to know. Unfortunately, that post was a joke about the kind of "articles" that nudie mags tend to carry, not an endorsement of the women in the ad. I mean, it was an article about fetishes, with ads for porn, on a gaming site for Pete's sake XD

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

What I find most disturbing about all this is a featured DvD on the site is titled "Old Asses", guess what it's about.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Actually, I had an idea just as I was trying to get some shut eye!

Here it is:

Instead of The Escapist banning people for the promotion of ad-blocks, I think that every time some user goes and does this, a Mod or an automated messager appears on the thread quoting the person who promoted this use of ad-blocks and the message appears below it:

"Yeah, you could go about doing that...OR...[insert PubClub promotion here]".

To me, this makes more sense as it's advertising AND competing against whatever said user promoted in the first place, be it just the vague use of the word "ad-block" or something else more specific. It also gives The Escapist more opportunities to generate more revenue for their business without running the hypocritical practice of banning people.

OK, now going back to sleep!

To be honest, I never thought the advocating adblock thing was the escapists idea. It sounds like a rule put in place as a condition when dealing with ad companies. If the Escapist doesn't harshly deal with people advocating it, advertisers might leave or not have interest in paying for space on the Escapist in the first place.

-If I look at it from an advertiser's point of view, I wouldn't want advertise a product on a site where ad evading information is freely expressed. It'd be a waste of money.

-If I look at it from the Escapist's point of view, I wouldn't want to damage my relationship with advertisers or potential advertisers (as in, the source of income I depend on to support myself) just because people are frustrated with the methods used to make/keep the site free.


I imagine advertisers don't mind the Publisher's Club because it's only a small fraction of users on this site.

Advertising the Pubclub doesn't have the same potential to block ads as certain programs do because the Pubclub costs money, limiting the amount of members who join it. To be honest, if the Pubclub becomes too popular and the percentage of people who join it becomes too high when compared to page views then the Escapist will probably either have to let some ads through to the Pubclub, scrap it for something else or heighten the cost of admission to limit the amount of people joining. Money made from the yearly Pubclub fee pales in comparison to ad dollars.

Basically, certain rules are probably made so they can keep the lights on.

As for the whole 'Ad for a service that provides porn to those who sign up and pay for it', it was probably a fluke from whoever Themis Media hired to sell ad space.

EDIT:

What I find most disturbing about all this is a featured DvD on the site is titled "Old Asses", guess what it's about.

I'm guessing it's about elderly donkeys.

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

It's everywhere. I've seen it on at least 3 pages now, in both slots used for advertising.
It's at the top of the page right now, it's right here below where I'm typing. I don't care if it exists, and I wouldn't mind seeing these ads someplace like reddit, but seeing it here is a serious blow to the credibility of the website.

You go to gamereviewsite.com or whatever, and you see porn ads, and you're like "Oh, this is some guy's lame little review website. I'll go look elsewhere."

You go to someplace like gamesradar.com, and you see ads for new games, services like gamefly, etc. You're like "oh, these guys are in good with the marketing people. This place is that much more legit."

The mere existence of SugarDVD is retarded, I don't want to see it around here. Not to mention, when people see me browsing The Escapist and spot the SugarDVD ads, there's the implication that you're catering to me not only with content but with advertisements. Do not advertise SugarDVD to me. DO NOT WANT.

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

I'm pretty sure that if we all band together and refuse to click these SugarDVD ads, the people who bought the ad space will stop buying ad space here at The Escapist. The Escapist will then sell the space to other people with different services.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

It does make me kind of embarrassed to use this site. This is the kind of advert you expect to find on dodgy piracy sites and 4chan who can't get anybody else to advertise with them.

 

[loc978]

As long as the ads don't break their own rules (so clothed pics only), I don't see an issue with it. The Escapist has been hurting for cash a bit, and there's no bigger cash cow on the internet than porn.

 

[80Maxwell08]

As long as the ads don't break their own rules (so clothed pics only), I don't see an issue with it. The Escapist has been hurting for cash a bit, and there's no bigger cash cow on the internet than porn.

Except it already is breaking their own rules. You can't link to porn either and that's exactly what this is. Yes people have already said that it's the fault of whatever is providing the ads so now we just wait until they are taken down. Also out of bit of humor Andy Chalk calls himself the worst journalist on his twitter. Considering everything going wrong with his article on this that just fits so much more.

 

[FamoFunk]

SNIP

I was going to say I though it was OK, as it's a service on the PS3 and this is a gaming site.

But after what this guy said, I'm going to agree with him. Anyone else would of been banned no questions if they linked to this site or even uploaded the picture without it directing you to the site.

Also, to use forms the general rule is 13+ porn isn't for 13+ and now they've been link to it and what should of been an innocent gaming site.