OSLO, Norway — The Nordic region’s largest hotel chain — Nordic Choice Hotels — has pulled all porn from its in-room TV service.
A result of new “ethical guidelines” with a zero tolerance policy against prostitution and sex trafficking of children, the move affects all 168 of the chain’s properties.
"We believe it is a natural part of our social responsibility to not support an industry that contributes to trafficking or other forms of trafficking," CEO Torgeir Silseth said in a statement.
According to the chain’s HR manager Hedda Skaug, nearly 1.2 million children are trafficked annually with 70 percent suffering sexual exploitation and many sold into both prostitution and the porn industry.
The new stance is reportedly part of a 2008 partnership between Nordic Choice and Unicef's "Free to Grow" project aimed at protecting child victims of trafficking and sexual abuse.
"Through 'Free to grow', and our new ethical guidelines, we as a company seek to contribute to the important work Unicef is doing to combat this problem," Skaug said.
But some critics are calling the actions simply a means to gain popularity with consumers.
"It is a shame if this is seen as populism, but that doesn't hinder us from acting based on our convictions," the company tweeted.
The backlash maintained that if porn is banned from a hotel then the entire Internet would have to be blocked.
"We obviously don't have the power to close the Internet and neither is that the solution," the chain responded.
