MELBOURNE, Australia—As everyone with any interest in adult must be aware by now, the Exxxotica Lifestyle Convention has been having a little trouble with the city of Dallas, whose city council recently voted to ban the expo from its city-owned convention center.
The prime source of news about this situation has so far been the Dallas Morning News, the city's premier daily newspaper—and as journalists are occasionally wont to do, they sometimes smush a couple or three words together to make a shorthand way of referring to a particular person, place or event ... and that's where they've run into trouble.
Take this paragraph from a Dallas Morning News editorial, published on February 8: "We don’t like this sexpo's content any more than Rawlings and other critics do. The 'Comic-con for porn' sends a terrible message about the objectification and exploitation of women, possibly even undermining efforts to combat human trafficking."
Anyone see the problem? David T. Ross, the international licensing manager for SEXPO, certainly did—and he sent out a press release about it.
"Exxxotica, not SEXPO, [is] in conflict with Dallas Convention Center, yet Dallas Morning News continues to use the SEXPO trademark as a generic term to describe any adult-type exhibition," Ross wrote. "In fact, SEXPO exhibitions are currently produced in 6 states of Australia and under license in South Africa and England, with plans to license into the USA this year."
"We must act at all times when we become aware of the misuse of our trademark," Ross said in the press release. "Particularly given we are in negotiations which will likely conclude with the first USA SEXPO being staged in 2017.
"Exxxotica seems to be a porn star signing event and has little in common with SEXPO events," he added. "We have instructed our attorneys to closely examine the contents of [the] opinion piece."
Contrasting the SEXPOs that have been held in various parts of the world, from South Africa to London, with Exxxotica, which Ross said has been described by its organizers as "like going to a comic book expo and getting to meet the artists," Ross believes that SEXPO's emphasis on "lifestyle" exhibitors and programming "ensures our attendance numbers are far better than any competing event with more than 50 percent of attendees being female."
And while Ross's press release doesn't say just where SEXPO will be holding its 2017 USA convention, it just might want to try Dallas—and given the city's antipathy to Exxxotica, Ross apparently doesn't want to poison the well by having his company's name linked to the Exxxotica fight and the upcoming legal battle that it will almost certainly win—and thereby make the Dallas mayor, city council and Certain Interested Parties (yes, we're talking about you, billionaire oilman Ray Lee Hunt and your anti-prostitution activist wife Barbara Ann) any more upset with SEXPO than they need to be.
So what can we say except ... Good luck, SEXPO; you'll need it!
