“It’s a big thing here because — at the end of the day, that’s all we do; we are a porn company — and it’s the first time that an adult company has been allowed to advertise openly in Toronto,” MaleFlixxx’s product marketing manager Mary Gillis told XBIZ.
MaleFlixxx.com and its parent company Sureflix Digital Distribution are based out of Toronto.
The advertisements bore various gay Pride slogans and pictured a model’s bare chest as well as the Maleflixxx logo. While visually provocative, Gillis said the ads were no more controversial than many mainstream fashion campaigns. She said the public seemed ready to see advertising for an adult company, since various adult-oriented social networking sites already advertise in billboard form throughout the city.
In contrast to the company’s experience in Toronto, Gillis was recently contacted by a privately owned billboard company in Los Angeles to advertise on signage located in West Hollywood, Calif., who later declined to post the ad.
“We wrote them a check and started working with the designer. We got final approval from them, sent them the final art work, and two days later I get a phone call from them saying, ‘I’m sorry but we can’t put adult in that space,’” Gillis said. “And I said, ‘But you called me. It’s right in WeHo [West Hollywood].’”
Gillis declined to name the billboard company.
“So they had to send my money back. I said, ‘We were Maleflixxx the day you contacted us, and we were Maleflixxx on the day you approved the artwork and we’re still Malefixxx on the day you rejected the billboard," she said.
Maleflixxx was surprised by the billboard company’s refusal, especially since, according to Gillis, the billboard at the West Hollywood location currently is advertising Ginch Gonch, a clothing retailer that sells colorful underwear for adults.
Gillis said Maleflixxx will continue to push boundaries and spread public awareness of the company’s brand. They have contracted for a permanent billboard to promote the Maleflixxx network and TV channel on Church Street, located in the Village area of Toronto.
“Canada has a strong social history of supporting minority rights. We were one of the first countries to legalize same-sex spousal rights, and then gay marriage,” President of Sureflix Digital Distribution Eric Johnson said. “This city’s support of the gay community is second-to-none and includes the willingness of the mainstream press and city authorities to not only recognize its existence, but support its growth.”