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Groupon faces boycott

By Michael Sebastian | Posted: April 24, 2012
For the second time, Groupon is running a daily deal for a tour of a building where so-called torture porn is filmed, sparking a boycott from the organization Morality in Media (MIM).

The building is home to Kink.com, a website The New York Times once called “arguably the country’s most successful fetish porn company.” The site features videos of sadomasochism, bondage and more.

The Groupon deal is for a tour of Kink’s historic headquarters. Groupon bills the tours as an “innovative blend of historical and risqué trivia, much like the Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institute after hours.” Guests might even see a live filming in progress, the listing indicates.

MIM casts the studio in a far different light, however. The company specializes in “live filming of women being ‘bound, whipped, objectified and humiliated,” MIM said in an email, quoting language from Kink.com.

“Selling coupons supporting the degradation of women is as low as a publicly-traded company can go,” MIM executive director Dawn Hawkins said in a statement emailed to PR Daily.

Groupon has responded to the criticism, indicating Kink is a good citizen of the community because it donates to youth charities.

Dan Savage, author of the syndicated relationship and sex advice column "Savage Love," defended Kink.com. In an email to PR Daily, Savage wrote:
“Kink.com is a good company that does good work—and they're creating BDSM porn, which people want to watch, in a safe, sane, consensual, and accountable manner.”
BDSM is an abbreviation that refers to bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism.

Groupon, which went public last year, is no stranger to PR crises, from poorly executed Super Bowl commercials to investor relations gaffes.

@msebastian

(Image via & via)