GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Paris Hilton Named To Adult Star Path Of Fame

TheGoldenChild · 05-01-2006, 08:58 PM

Eisenberg and Vadocz wanted to start a bidding war for the Paris video through the mainstream media and generate publicity for sexbrat.com. But as front man, Blatt soon found himself in a legal quagmire. According to Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 110, Section 2257 of the U.S. Code?known in the porn industry as Law 2257?any performer depicted having sex on a commercially sold tape must consent to its release. Since neither Paris Hilton nor Rick Salomon had given their consent, the video was unshowable, although clips managed to leak out into the internet. Meanwhile, Rick Salomon was being sued for $10 million by the Hilton family, who claimed that he?d deliberately released the tape and that Paris was underage when it was filmed. Salomon in turn tried to sue Blatt, believing him to be the mastermind of the tape?s release. Lacking the money for a lawyer and scared shitless, Blatt spent months scrambling out of windows to avoid being served.

?Did I stage it? No way. You can?t stage something that perfect. When she stole the DVD off that newsstand?you can?t ask for better press.?It was a Mexican stand-off until the Hiltons dropped their lawsuit and Salomon and Blatt finally met and worked out a deal. According to Blatt, Salomon had decided that, since the tape had been stolen from his collection by his roommate and he was being maligned around the world as a sleazebag, he may as well profit from the experience. He released a second tape of much better quality than the night-goggles version and sold it to a company called Red Light District. Blatt?s publicity prowess the first time round got him retained. In addition to Howard Stern, Blatt even appeared on 20/20 this time [WMV clip here], the go-to expert for discussing the hot-topic issue of celebrity porn tapes. 1 Night in Paris would go on to sell ?some 600,000 copies,? according to the New York Times. To say that Blatt produced the video was, it turns out, a distinct overstatement, but he was instrumental in getting the word out. As Blatt says, ?It was Rick Salomon?s dick and my mouth, but not necessarily in that order.?

The P.T. Barnum of Pussy

When Blatt described himself as the P.T. Barnum of pussy, his insight wasn?t some throwaway reference. The more I thought about it, the more I realized he had a savvy understanding of the game he was playing, and the nature of that game was different and more complex than it appeared.

The real P.T. Barnum was perhaps the first American showman who understood the alchemy of marketing through publicity and promotion. In the 1800s, Barnum created a series of traveling circuses and freak shows that included such memorable real-life characters as General Tom Thumb and the Fiji Mermaid. Barnum constantly pushed the extreme bounds of what had been seen before by the public in order to generate more attention and interest and draw customers. It didn?t matter whether newspapers derided him as notorious or heralded him as a great entertainer. Slander was fine. Even lawsuits helped. Every time Barnum was discussed in the news, the papers always mentioned his shows?free advertising to him, the type of publicity money couldn?t buy.

When Blatt was trying to promote 1 Night in Paris, he ran into a problem Barnum would have recognized. Although David Joseph, the president of Red Light District, was willing to spend big bucks to advertise the DVD, Blatt soon discovered that no one would take their money because of the notoriety of the subject matter. He tried innocuous billboards and radio spots but was unsuccessful in securing any contracts.

In the end, two forces helped get the word out. The first was the mainstream media?s willingness to report on the story again and again. As Blatt puts it, ?You need to give them what they want?something very salacious, very inside, that scoops everybody else.? The second factor was Paris Hilton herself. According to Blatt, ?She was her own worst enemy. Every day there?d be something stupid that would happen to Paris and she?d be her own news. The more she wished bad juju on the tape, the worse shit happened to her. One morning, someone sent me an anonymous picture of her leaving Hustler Hollywood with a copy of her own DVD in her hand. I was like, ?This is genius, this should be in every newspaper in the country,? so I sent it out. Did I stage it? No way. You can?t stage something that perfect. When she stole the DVD off that newsstand?you can?t ask for better press.?

In the process, Blatt helped acquaint the adult web site business with the old adage that all mainstream publicity is good publicity. A March 19, 2006, New York Times article called, ?Sex, Lawsuits, and Celebrities Caught on Tape,? proves the point. The article is about a lawsuit brought by rock star Kid Rock against Red Light?s David Joseph to prevent the release of a new tape showing Rock having sex with groupies. In the process of rehashing the two-month-old story and naming (or advertising) half a dozen other celebrity sex tapes, the article gives ample publicity to Red Light, describing it as the ?leading player in a lucrative niche of the pornography industry: a purveyor of explicit videos of famous people, sold to an eager public, often over the vehement objections of the participants.?

No advertising copywriter would dare dream of putting it better. I asked Blatt about the story. ?I?m pissed they [the New York Times] didn?t call me,? he said, ?but I?m happy David got the attention, since he obviously needed publicity for Red Light.? He went on to describe the rationale behind David Joseph?s legal battle with Kid Rock. ?It behooves a guy like David to spend 50 or 100K on legal fees tangling with Kid Rock because the press they?re getting is immeasurable. Every time they mention Red Light District putting it out, there?s always a caveat saying, the same people who produced the Paris Hilton sex tape. Even though he can?t sell a single copy of Kid Rock, he?s selling 5,000 copies a week of Paris.? Though Joseph didn?t respond to my requests to confirm this amount, the Times quotes him saying he keeps ?50,000 to 60,000 of these on hand because they?re still selling.?

As P.T. Barnum knew, even a lawsuit draws customers. To paraphrase and update Marshall McLuhan, the media isn?t the message?the media is co-conspirator in the marketing strategy. Whether it?s witting or unwitting in its conspiracy is the question.

Chomsky-type way?

05-01-2006, 08:58 PM
TheGoldenChild Confirmed User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Pacific Palisades Posts: 6,940	Eisenberg and Vadocz wanted to start a bidding war for the Paris video through the mainstream media and generate publicity for sexbrat.com. But as front man, Blatt soon found himself in a legal quagmire. According to Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 110, Section 2257 of the U.S. Code?known in the porn industry as Law 2257?any performer depicted having sex on a commercially sold tape must consent to its release. Since neither Paris Hilton nor Rick Salomon had given their consent, the video was unshowable, although clips managed to leak out into the internet. Meanwhile, Rick Salomon was being sued for $10 million by the Hilton family, who claimed that he?d deliberately released the tape and that Paris was underage when it was filmed. Salomon in turn tried to sue Blatt, believing him to be the mastermind of the tape?s release. Lacking the money for a lawyer and scared shitless, Blatt spent months scrambling out of windows to avoid being served. ?Did I stage it? No way. You can?t stage something that perfect. When she stole the DVD off that newsstand?you can?t ask for better press.?It was a Mexican stand-off until the Hiltons dropped their lawsuit and Salomon and Blatt finally met and worked out a deal. According to Blatt, Salomon had decided that, since the tape had been stolen from his collection by his roommate and he was being maligned around the world as a sleazebag, he may as well profit from the experience. He released a second tape of much better quality than the night-goggles version and sold it to a company called Red Light District. Blatt?s publicity prowess the first time round got him retained. In addition to Howard Stern, Blatt even appeared on 20/20 this time [WMV clip here], the go-to expert for discussing the hot-topic issue of celebrity porn tapes. 1 Night in Paris would go on to sell ?some 600,000 copies,? according to the New York Times. To say that Blatt produced the video was, it turns out, a distinct overstatement, but he was instrumental in getting the word out. As Blatt says, ?It was Rick Salomon?s dick and my mouth, but not necessarily in that order.? The P.T. Barnum of Pussy When Blatt described himself as the P.T. Barnum of pussy, his insight wasn?t some throwaway reference. The more I thought about it, the more I realized he had a savvy understanding of the game he was playing, and the nature of that game was different and more complex than it appeared. The real P.T. Barnum was perhaps the first American showman who understood the alchemy of marketing through publicity and promotion. In the 1800s, Barnum created a series of traveling circuses and freak shows that included such memorable real-life characters as General Tom Thumb and the Fiji Mermaid. Barnum constantly pushed the extreme bounds of what had been seen before by the public in order to generate more attention and interest and draw customers. It didn?t matter whether newspapers derided him as notorious or heralded him as a great entertainer. Slander was fine. Even lawsuits helped. Every time Barnum was discussed in the news, the papers always mentioned his shows?free advertising to him, the type of publicity money couldn?t buy. When Blatt was trying to promote 1 Night in Paris, he ran into a problem Barnum would have recognized. Although David Joseph, the president of Red Light District, was willing to spend big bucks to advertise the DVD, Blatt soon discovered that no one would take their money because of the notoriety of the subject matter. He tried innocuous billboards and radio spots but was unsuccessful in securing any contracts. In the end, two forces helped get the word out. The first was the mainstream media?s willingness to report on the story again and again. As Blatt puts it, ?You need to give them what they want?something very salacious, very inside, that scoops everybody else.? The second factor was Paris Hilton herself. According to Blatt, ?She was her own worst enemy. Every day there?d be something stupid that would happen to Paris and she?d be her own news. The more she wished bad juju on the tape, the worse shit happened to her. One morning, someone sent me an anonymous picture of her leaving Hustler Hollywood with a copy of her own DVD in her hand. I was like, ?This is genius, this should be in every newspaper in the country,? so I sent it out. Did I stage it? No way. You can?t stage something that perfect. When she stole the DVD off that newsstand?you can?t ask for better press.? In the process, Blatt helped acquaint the adult web site business with the old adage that all mainstream publicity is good publicity. A March 19, 2006, New York Times article called, ?Sex, Lawsuits, and Celebrities Caught on Tape,? proves the point. The article is about a lawsuit brought by rock star Kid Rock against Red Light?s David Joseph to prevent the release of a new tape showing Rock having sex with groupies. In the process of rehashing the two-month-old story and naming (or advertising) half a dozen other celebrity sex tapes, the article gives ample publicity to Red Light, describing it as the ?leading player in a lucrative niche of the pornography industry: a purveyor of explicit videos of famous people, sold to an eager public, often over the vehement objections of the participants.? No advertising copywriter would dare dream of putting it better. I asked Blatt about the story. ?I?m pissed they [the New York Times] didn?t call me,? he said, ?but I?m happy David got the attention, since he obviously needed publicity for Red Light.? He went on to describe the rationale behind David Joseph?s legal battle with Kid Rock. ?It behooves a guy like David to spend 50 or 100K on legal fees tangling with Kid Rock because the press they?re getting is immeasurable. Every time they mention Red Light District putting it out, there?s always a caveat saying, the same people who produced the Paris Hilton sex tape. Even though he can?t sell a single copy of Kid Rock, he?s selling 5,000 copies a week of Paris.? Though Joseph didn?t respond to my requests to confirm this amount, the Times quotes him saying he keeps ?50,000 to 60,000 of these on hand because they?re still selling.? As P.T. Barnum knew, even a lawsuit draws customers. To paraphrase and update Marshall McLuhan, the media isn?t the message?the media is co-conspirator in the marketing strategy. Whether it?s witting or unwitting in its conspiracy is the question. Chomsky-type way? __________________