SAN FRANCISCO — Groupon.com announced today that it has removed deals on tours of BDSM production studio Kink.com from its website. The online discounter also said that it is not doing business with any "new adult merchants."
“We continue to test different types of deals in markets around the country, and run categories that represent the interests of each local customer base," a Groupon spokesperson told AtlantaJournalConstitution.com.
"While we aren’t currently accepting new adult merchants, guidelines for what types of businesses we do and do not run are constantly reevaluated on a local level.”
The announcement comes a little over a month after Christian watch-group Morality in Media called for a nationwide boycott of the company upon learning that it offered bargains on Kink.com tours and Playboy's Rock n' Roll Fantasy Camp (now also removed from the Groupon site).
Kink.com, headquartered in San Francisco's historic Mission District building, a 200,000 square foot reproduction of a Moorish Castle built in 1914 and used as the city's National Guard Armory and Arsenal up until the '70s, began offering hour-long tours to the public last year.
Groupon, which provided Kink.com tour tickets for as low as $28, defended the deal in April by stating that the adult studio had "proven to be a responsible member of their community and the tour offered in this deal is historical and informational in nature.”
Groupon has not commented on MIM's boycott, but that has not stopped the watch-group from claiming victory over the online giant.
"We hope that you feel as motivated as we do to continue to challenge pornography and the pornification of our society where and when you see it," MIM posted on its site. "We do not have to simply accept the mainstreaming of pornography and the devastation that results from it. We can fight back!"