So I'm shuffling down the platform last night in the subway sauna at 86th and Lexington, and there's this big Virginity Hit billboard at the far south end: "Still A Virgin? For Help, Call 888-742-4335." Cute, I thought to myself, and maybe a little coarse, but Sony knows its market. I might have been the only person to stop and glance at it at all -- more out of professional curiosity than any prurient interest. And then, overnight, comes this headline on our sister site Deadline: "Sony Pic Billboards Offer 'Virgin Helpline' And Cause Nationwide Controversy." Er, really?
Apparently, we're told, there is some real outrage brewing as "TV news stations in Louisiana, Miami, San Diego, and Arizona have so far covered the brouhaha as local politicians demand the billboards' removal." I have yet to really find any evidence of that outrage in news searches online, but maybe it's just that I don't live among the "huckleberrys" so infuriated to have been "duped" by Sony's marketing.
So I leave it to you, Gentle Reader: Beyond the campaign's conspicuousness and craven lowbrow appeal, is there anything so controversial or scandalous about plugging a few billboards and posters like these -- for an R-rated movie called The Virginity Hit -- into major markets before a nationwide release in 2010? Is anybody really aggrieved, hurt or even titillated by this? I tend to give people more credit than that, yet in so many matters of seeming cultural import, that's often my first mistake. Help me understand.
ยท Sony Pic Billboards Offer 'Virgin Helpline' And Cause Nationwide Controversy [Deadline]