Internet and Network Marketing Success Blog

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

(Go to URL)

24-06-2007 - Why Are These Leading Marketers Associating Themselves with The Sexist Homophobic Rich Jerk?

We all know that the Rich Jerk is just that. He has effectively used controversy to make a lot of money. What I don't get is why people like Yanik Silver, Dan Kennedy, Mike Dillard, John Reese, and Mike Filsaime are promoting and endorsing his "Playboy Mansion Party." (Search for it as I don't want to give it another link).

It's one thing to be controversial and even raunchy but the Rich Jerk goes over the line with his blatant sexism and homophobia.

Now, you might be thinking, "Oh, come on, he's just having fun and it's a great marketing technique--look he's got you writing about it giving him free publicity."

If that's you, let me ask you a couple of questions:

1) If you have a teenage or adult daughter, would you take her to the Jerk's party, where one of the primary attractions are the voluptuous young women scampering around in their bikinis and maybe (according to the sales letter) even removing their tops to give all the guys a look at their breasts. If you would feel completely comfortable bringing your daughter to this event, I'd love to hear your rationale.

2) The Jerk concludes a recent blog post about his party with "P.S. No gays allowed." You know, it wasn't that long ago that the Jerk might have written, "No Negroes allowed" or "No Jews allowed" and very few people would object because they either shared the view that African-American and Jewish-American people were inferior or, if they didn't hold those racist views, they didn't want anyone to call them a "Jew-lover" or "N----- lover" or to face similar derision.

Today the fear is that you'll be accused of being "politically correct" (what a fool!) or of being gay yourself, an accusation which most American men fear more than almost anything.

Well, I'm not afraid to say that while I could care less about the Jerk, I think all of the men (you noticed there are no women endorsing the event on the sales letters, right?) who are endorsing or promoting his event should state if they share the Jerk's attitude that women are merely sex objects available for a man's pleasure and if they also endorse the Jerk's homophobic/anti-gay beliefs. Then we would at least know where they stand.

If they don't believe either of the above, why the heck are they endorsing or promoting the Jerk's event at all? Are they willing to endorse a grossly sexist and homophobic businessman simply to make some more money?