Apparently, today’s economic downturn affects the sex industry just as much as the automobile and finance business.
According to TMZ, porn mogul Larry Flynt of Hustler Magazine and Joe Francis of the Girls Gone Wild video series plan to ask Congress for a $5 billion bailout.
With the economy, America’s sex appetite has gone “limp,” TMZ said, resulting in a 22% drop in DVD sales in one year. Porn may not be as recession-proof as the public seems to think.
Flynt and Francis admit that their problem is not as bad as the auto industry or California’s budget problems. However, according to the Los Angeles Times, they both said, “Why take chances?”
“With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind,” Flynt said. “It’s time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America.”
Francis and Flynt said that they will go to D.C. to get the bailout, if that is what it takes, because they deserve the financial help that the other industries have gotten so far. “Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation’s most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration,” Francis said.
Sales have gone down, but both Flynt and Francis have a few troubles of their own. Francis is deep in felony federal tax-evasion charges that he is scheduled to go on trial in a couple months.
According to the Times, Flynt has recently filed an infringement suit against his two nephews, for creating Flynt Media, a company that produces adult films.
“To come into the adult entertainment business and use my name not only confuses people who buy my products, but if they’re not maintaining a certain quality, it could also hurt my name,” he said.
Dustin Flynt, one of the nephews, said that his uncle is dealing with “inferiority issues,” and that he and his brother has every right to use their own names.
Still, compared to other businesses, the porn industry’s problems are not as severe. The Huffington Post reports that in 2007, the industry generated about $12 million.
Francis Koenig of AdultVest, a porn-services company, believes that only video sales are down, but that won’t affect revenues too much, since his fund went up 50% in 2008, according to New York Daily News.
“The industry’s not going anywhere,” Koenig says. “You’ve got 6 billion people on the planet,” he laughs, “and they’re all horny.”
Our Take:
Business is business, and when sales are down, there are careful financial considerations that must be approached. But asking for government money to supplement the porn industry almost seems like a trivial request.
Unlike cars and stocks, porn will not be at risk for bankruptcy or anything as grim as that. Francis and Flynt claim that they deserve the consideration, and they will march down to D.C. to get the money, but I doubt that their request will be taken seriously.
