Well, I knew that this issue might be controversial but I had
no idea how vociferous would be the opposition to my opinion.
Further in this post I describe what happened when I initiated a
discussion of the topic on a forum.
But first, here's what I posted today on the Conquer Your Niche Forum.
This post goes into more detail about the issue and provides
links to the relevant sites. I realized that there's no way to
get around the fact that the Jerk gets free publicity when
someone like me voices concern about his effect on our industry.
So better to include the links so that people can see what I'm
referring to in my comments.
Here is my forum post:
The Rich Jerk is having a party at the Playboy Mansion. It's a
networking event, a charity fundraiser, and, according to one of the
sales pages there will also be "Body Painted Chicks
Catering to Your Every Need" and, according to the "family-friendly" version of the sales letter:
# Mingle with over 200 of the hottest women in the
world
# World class food from Hef’s personal chef
# Potential to attend an exclusive afterparty at the Rich Jerk's
own mansion in Hollywood (visitors chosen at his discretion)
# A don’t ask, don’t tell policy – meaning
pretty much “anything” goes. Everyone will be forced
to sign a strict non-disclosure agreement
# Access to
Hef’s personal game room and “special rooms”
(wink wink) . Here's a hint, one of these special room's ENTIRE
floor is a bed, and every wall (and the ceiling) is a mirror! (I
hope my wife never reads this)
The non-family friendly version, which has been pulled from
the Internet but can be viewed by searching on Google for:
http://richjerkplayboyparty.com/release/
and
then clicking on the Cache link, says:
The party will be completely catered by Hef’s
personal chef, with open bars (topless bartenders) so you can get
as s--t-faced as you want. But I strongly recommend staying
conscious. At least for a little while. After all, if you black
out, you won’t remember anything.
and
Plus, everyone in attendance will have to sign a non-
disclosure document. Therefore, you can be sure your wife,
girlfriend, or whoever will NOT find out what happens when you
are hanging around a couple of super hot, slutty models in the
grotto or a sex room.
Famous marketers like Dan Kennedy, Yanik Silver, Mike
Filsaime, and John Reese have endorsed the event, although other
well-known marketers, such as Paul Galloway have stated they will
not attend (click
here for Paul's blog post explaining his
decision).
Bloggers and forums are beginning to take up the issue. Here's
a forum thread expressing opposition to the Jerk's tactics, which
the participants believe is offensive to women:
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/
showthread.php?p=15845#post15845
The Rich Jerk also recently offended many women and the gay
community with a video on which he "brands" "his" women like a
rancher would brand his cattle and a caricature of a flouncy gay guy who whines that he
wants to be "branded" too:
http://
youtube.com/watch?v=8Z8ry9_95Tg
Finally, the Rich Jerk concludes his June 1st blog
entry about the Playboy Mansion Party with
P.S. No gays allowed.
As you can probably guess, I find the whole thing offensive
and I recently posted a blog entry about it, click here if you'd like to read
it. It makes the Internet marketing business look
low-class, sexist, and homophobic.
But when I initiated a discussion about this issue on another
forum, seven or eight members (all men, by the way) quickly
disagreed with me saying I was imposing my morals on them, being
"politically correct," that I was opposed to free speech, that
the Rich Jerk is just an act and to not take it seriously etc. I
had hoped to have a rationale discussion because I think it's an
important issue for our industry to address but, unfortunately,
the owner of that other forum deleted the thread and prohibited
any discussion of the issue.
So that left me wondering, "Am I a very small minority that
finds this whole Playboy Mansion promotion offensive?" That's why
I decided to come here and set up this poll.
What do you think about the Rich Jerk's Playboy Mansion Party
and related promotional material? Please vote in the poll and/or
comment. When you vote, please choose by gender and statement.
And if you are a male, please don't pretend to be a female to
try to skew the results (and vice versa although in my experience
with polls like these it's usually the guys who pull shenanigans
like that).
If you answer, "Other" please explain in a post if you wish.
Finally, if you think I should add any other response choices,
please let me know.
Thank you for your participation.
Mark
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