Comments on: Sex sells???

Sex sells???

johngumbo — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:00:11 -0800

NSFW NSFW NSFW!!! Not even safe for home use. This is porn. Pure and simple. 'Cept, it's also a clothing catalogue. Yes, this is an XXX "tab A in slot B" porno movie but with imbedded links to the clothes they've just removed. Get it? It's a clothing ad, but a porno movie. No, a porno movie that's also a clothing ad. It's also WAY slow to load, but when it's loaded, it's...well, it's porn that's also a clothing catalogue. (sort of SoaP, but Sex selling Clothes.) As someone else said, Abercrombie might want to look at this, and maybe Fredericks and VS. You too, if that sort of thing interests you, which it probably does. I'm sure I could load this with all sorts of cultural memes regarding the sexualization of advertising, but I'll let their fingers do the talking.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:07:50 -0800

Calm down.

By: rollbiz

rollbiz — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:20:12 -0800

A lot of this extraneous information came from this MeTa, I suspect. No criticism here for trying to cover one's ass when posting content which will likely result in someone getting pissed. FWIW, I think the link is interesting, and promotes discussion as to how much is too much and "sex sells" and such. I, for one, have never seen it done before it quite this way. (When my porn career really takes off, I'm selling temporary tatoo space on my ass cheeks. Screw a clothing line.)

By: tkolar

tkolar — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:28:51 -0800

Aww, man. No porn for us poor Macintosh users. Isn't it always the way...

By: rollbiz

rollbiz — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:30:37 -0800

Really? Are you sure it was OS and not browser?

By: tkolar

tkolar — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:32:58 -0800

The site claimed it needed a certain ActiveX control. I guess that doesn't guarantee that it's Windows only, but I would consider it more than slightly indicative...

By: tkolar

tkolar — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:48:41 -0800

My bad, it actually just needed Flash 8. I'm now getting lots of yummy porn goodness. Of course, being the person who I am, I'm more interested in how they're doing the location beacons for each peice of clothing. If it was done automatically using color (which seems possible, given the distinct colors of the clothing), then thats pretty damn sexy. One of the holy grails of interactive TV has been for people to be able to buy anything that they see on a show immediately, by clicking on it. This video is a pretty good example, and it obviously won't be the first time that porn leads the way in new technology.

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:03:38 -0800

I just wanted to order a comfy T-shirt.

By: KevinSkomsvold

KevinSkomsvold — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:06:02 -0800

What was with the lacksadasical hand-job at the end of the Woman/Man vid? It's not a pool cue lady!

By: fenriq

fenriq — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:10:15 -0800

Loaded twice, then went back to the main screen twice. Damn. And thanks for wrecking the ending, Kevin.

By: VirtualWolf

VirtualWolf — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:12:06 -0800

Jesus. That Flash file is 21.6MB. And the server isn't the speediest. :P

By: KevinSkomsvold

KevinSkomsvold — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:23:41 -0800

Fenriq: Get the .mov files for pure viral ad goodness. And thanks for wrecking the ending, Kevin. Like you don't know how it ends?

By: edlundart

edlundart — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:26:28 -0800

hmm. it's quite well directed/edited. i wish more people would make porn of this kind. as for the clothing catalog angle, it's kind of nifty, and i think it's a logical marketing idea that can totally work. it's just current marketing taken to its logical extreme.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:56:18 -0800

ramped up version of what is on the non longin side of Mefi currently

By: Mikey-San

Mikey-San — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 06:55:22 -0800

You don't have permission to access /medias/discover/women_women/Shai_women-women_catalog.zip on this server. How dare permissions settings get in the way of me watching girl-girl action. $ /bin/chmod 755 titties

By: birdherder

birdherder — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 06:58:35 -0800

I could totally see applications like this with mainstream clothing companies like Gap and Old Navy. The sites could play the commercials and when you click on an actor wearing something you like, you can click on it and see the details and order it. ~~Or you can drag two+ of the actors on to a bed and watch them fuck~~

By: crunchland

crunchland — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 07:10:20 -0800

"I'll buy that for a dollar!"

By: graventy

graventy — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 07:24:35 -0800

This is more noteworthy for the click-order applications than the porn. How much harder would it be to make it so that when I mouseover a shirt, it gets selected? Is that how you pronounce Shai (shy)? Some sort of company theme song?

By: kika

kika — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 07:38:43 -0800

I also got that "You don't have permission to access /medias/discover/women_women/Shai_women-women_catalog.zip on this server." warning, but a reload on that 403 page worked wonders. I think they block their own domain as a referer :-)

By: fenriq

fenriq — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 07:55:52 -0800

Kevin, we all know how it comes out in the end. Hehehe.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 08:10:52 -0800

Ugh. In the man-woman, I hate that woman's makeup. The porn is rather by-the-numbers, with quite a few editing tricks to make it look more exciting than it was. Hey, suggestion for the next time they do this: Get some actors who are able to act like they really like sex, instead of simply randomly speeding up the film speed? And I didn't want ot buy the clothes. I wanted to buy the bed.

By: bhance

bhance — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 08:23:44 -0800

This catalog ... it vibrates?

By: kika

kika — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 08:39:31 -0800

Putting clothing on is sooo last century. You know you now can put clothing in, do you? [nsfw, if you hadn't already guessed]

By: papakwanz

papakwanz — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 08:40:45 -0800

What's kind of funny about this is that if you're a man looking to buy men's clothes, you really should watch the man-man action. To have the most options, of course.

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 09:04:57 -0800

you really should watch the man-man action. I guess man-man are still in the closet trying out stuff

By: graventy

graventy — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 09:32:32 -0800

papakwanz : "you really should watch the man-man action." You're just trying to turn us gay! Stop that!

By: graventy

graventy — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 09:33:06 -0800

Although, judging from the action in the other shots, it might turn people straight.

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:29:18 -0800

Get some actors who are able to act like they really like sex, instead of simply randomly speeding up the film speed? Do you watch a lot of porno flicks where people seem to be really enjoying the sex? I think a lot of people would subscribe to your newsletter if so.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:35:53 -0800

Because porn tends to be bad is not an excuse for making bad porn. And you can read my newsletter here.

By: Slothrup

Slothrup — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:43:32 -0800

Would you think less of me if I confess to recognizing both of the women in the woman-woman action -- and could even give their noms de porn?

By: fungible

fungible — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:50:08 -0800

I love this! Kills two birds with one stone. And who knew Quicktime Interactive was so darn useful?

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:50:58 -0800

Because porn tends to be bad is not an excuse for making bad porn. I guess it's more that you wouldn't expect it from real porn, so why expect it from a marketing campaign? And, uh, I didn't actually expect you to have a newsletter, so kudos to calling my bluff...

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:52:44 -0800

Zing. I always figure advertising has a larger budget, so they should do things better.

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 11:15:45 -0800

Green spots = new hotness.

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 12:43:56 -0800

It's not a pool cue lady! Well, perhaps not for you.

By: generic230

generic230 — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 12:44:50 -0800

As a militant, feminist lesbian I have this to say: How can I gets me a hot lesbian like that?

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 12:47:39 -0800

It's all about the Hamiltons, baby. I mean, Ms. 230.

By: Skwirl

Skwirl — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:01:20 -0800

I guess I could buy something from the women/women video for my SO, but then I'd have to tell her where I found it.

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:02:40 -0800

Do you watch a lot of porno flicks where people seem to be really enjoying the sex? Um, yeah. What crap-ass shit are you watching?

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:10:26 -0800

Oh, and: Would you think less of me if I confess to recognizing both of the women in the woman-woman action -- and could even give their noms de porn? No. I got the blonde right away. Took me about 30 seconds to ID the brunette.

By: Slothrup

Slothrup — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:10:47 -0800

As a militant, feminist lesbian I have this to say: How can I gets me a hot lesbian like that? I believe both ladies are from Eastern Europe. Bon voyage!

By: aladfar

aladfar — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:14:07 -0800

Fucking brilliant!

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:38:59 -0800

Um, yeah. What crap-ass shit are you watching? Oh come on. Unless it's amateur or made in the 70s, the vast majority of porn is mechanical at best, demeaning at worst.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 14:03:38 -0800

Let me introduce you to Zazel. Although sometimes it's a little hard to find the sex in this picture, what with all the body painting, water-inhabiting Hindu gods, dildo boots, and devil women.

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 15:57:33 -0800

Oh come on. Unless it's amateur or made in the 70s, the vast majority of porn is mechanical at best, demeaning at worst. You have got to be kidding me. You're either hitting the wrong aggregator sites or not looking for more than ten seconds.

By: zorro astor

zorro astor — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 17:02:53 -0800

Would you think less of me if I confess to recognizing both of the women in the woman-woman action -- and could even give their noms de porn? No. I got the blonde right away. Took me about 30 seconds to ID the brunette. The blonde in the g/g scene is Sophie Moon. Who's the brunette? How about the girl in the b/g?

By: booksandlibretti

booksandlibretti — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 17:21:14 -0800

zorro astor, if you watch the movies, it'll tell you at the end right before it does all the rest of the credits.

By: zorro astor

zorro astor — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 17:32:24 -0800

Thanks booksandlibretti. I skipped the ending because it took so long for the damned things to dl.

By: VirtualWolf

VirtualWolf — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 18:20:33 -0800

Would you think less of me if I confess to recognizing both of the women in the woman-woman action -- and could even give their noms de porn? Heheheh. No, because I can do the same. ;)

By: Emperor SnooKloze

Emperor SnooKloze — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 20:01:05 -0800

I feel like a total prude, because I was actually a little flabbergasted that they went all the way to the moneyshot on the b/g... Yes, I watched til the end. *cough*

By: lumpenprole

lumpenprole — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 20:58:11 -0800

If it was done automatically using color (which seems possible, given the distinct colors of the clothing) Nah, I messed with it. They just did hot spots over the movie. If you freeze it and mess with where the areas are live, you can see they are square. Pretty basic flash, notable only becaues the amazing kick-ass FLV compression makes it okay to put videos in yer flash movie. In fact it looks like those little green dots are the top right or top left of the square button. I'm actually suprised nobody's done this already. Think of the possibilities if you have a piece of clothing you've payed to be worn in a movie, and you (the company) can put that clip up on your site and roll over say, Gwyneth Paltrow to buy what she's wearing. Pretty gross, but more or less inevitable.

By: makonan

makonan — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 22:08:56 -0800

I like the clothes.

By: fubar

fubar — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 23:15:56 -0800

To find out about the clothes you have to roll the mouse over the green dots which *stops* the video action. Seems like bass-ackward UI design to me. Pretty soon the viewer learns that to let the thing run uninterrupted they should keep their mouse the hell away from the merchandise dots.

By: scrump

scrump — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 23:45:50 -0800

Oh come on. Unless it's amateur or made in the 70s, the vast majority of porn is mechanical at best, demeaning at worst. You have got to be kidding me. You're either hitting the wrong aggregator sites or not looking for more than ten seconds.

So, uh, which are the right aggregator sites?

By: blacklite

blacklite — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 23:55:07 -0800

k. I like the 21st century.

By: narebuc

narebuc — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:11:27 -0800

I find it absolutely amazing that this link only got 55 comments (my comment about the comments included). And, it was a SLOW news weekend people!

By: bugmuncher

bugmuncher — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:32:57 -0800

OK. if it's comments you want, narebuc, Here are my 2 technical points: 1. Sorenson video 3? No wonder their site is so damn slow. Ever heard of H.264, people? 2. If the hot spots move too quickly for you, download the QuickTime version, and open in in QuickTime Player. Select "A/V" controls from the Window menu, and set the playback speed to 1/2. The hot spots also work in QuickTime! (wow, how'd they do that?) and the audio will play back without being an octave down, too.

By: bugmuncher

bugmuncher — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:34:20 -0800

wow. it is late. I meant to say "A/V Controls," not "A/V" controls...

By: illiad

illiad — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:24:19 -0800

The babe in the b/g flick is Oksana d'Harcourt. She's hawt.

By: VirtualWolf

VirtualWolf — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 02:31:42 -0800

Heh. They seem to have completely buggered things up... the main Flash movies don't even work now. Looking at Safari's Activity window, you get the same 403 error as with trying to download the zips.