One of the largest outdoor advertising companies in the nation backed away from a contract to host a billboard with one of the newest gay adult video production companies. And the latter, Stable Entertainment, says it's a question of pornophobia mixed with homophobia.
Outdoor Services reneged on their contract with Stable Entertainment, which was signed last July, for promoting Late Nite Porn, a Stable release. The billboard would have been located on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood and was to feature two of the film's star's naked from the waist-up.
"From the very beginning we made it clear we would be advertising an adult gay video," says Stable Entertainment president Donald von Wiedenman. "We even explained that the title Late Nite Porn referred to a fictitious talk show in the video."
Wiedenman submitted a first layout version, knowing that it was a little risqué as one model was on top of the other. It was rejected immediately. He then sent Outdoor Services a second, more subdued version, only to be met with the same response, and told that Outdoor Services had decided to cancel their contract.
"The agent said it wasn't just the two men together they objected to," Wiedenman said. "It was also the use of the word 'porn.'"
After checking with the city of West Hollywood and learning that the district guidelines in no way rendered the word "porn" obscene or prohibited, Wiedenman decided to contact the Free Speech Coalition for help forcing Outdoor Services to honor the contract. Executive Director Jeffrey Douglas, Wiedenman says, was more than happy to take them on.
"The Outdoor Services attorney told Douglas that it was their policy not to advertise porn. Period." He says. "I immediately knew that they were lying. Both Idol in the Sky and Ryker's Revenge were advertised on billboards owned by Outdoor Services on Santa Monica Boulevard."
Stable's distributor, International Media Distributors (IMD), was also surprised by the company's actions.
"I thought this was an ideal way to launch this big-budget release and to make a profound statement about Stable and the level of quality and professionalism they were bringing to this very competitive marketplace," said IMD president Madelon Weinberg. "I am completely perplexed as to why it is acceptable for a colleague to obtain billboard placement from the same company for the same type of product, and [for] Stable [it] is not."
After much consideration, Stable decided not to pursue the matter any further legally, because it would not only cost them thousands of dollars, but if the courts did force the company to honor the contract at some point in the future, the video would no longer be a 'new release,' which would defeat the entire purpose.
"I am confident that if this particular film were titled Late Nite Murder it would be considered acceptable," says Free Speech Coalition president Gloria Leonard. "Although huge strides are being made in all areas of daily life, we cannot, as a free-thinking society, allow the word 'porn' to continually be cast in a light that is 'dirty.' To deny the placement of the Late Nite Porn billboard, particularly in West Hollywood, is tantamount to prohibiting the sale of Mercedes-Benz automobiles in Beverly Hills!"
