iRiver Uses Porn Star In Marketing Effort (Bill Gates praises "outstanding firm")

DesignTechnica.com ^ | January 18, 2005

[HAL9000]

iRiver, acting out of desperation may have hit an all time low by using porn star Jenna Jameson in some of their advertisements.

"Chosun Ilbo reports that Korean OEM manufacturer Reigncom (manufacturer of the iriver device) has enlisted Jenna Jameson to snare the testosterone set. Pornography can be an effective fuel in the uptake and advance of new technology (still photography, VCR, the Intarweb) and can represent the shortest path to profitablity - this is no news."

While there is no doubt that sex sells, do we really need to use porn stars for promoting MP3 players - I think not. iRiver has been very quiet on the digital audio player front lately with mediocre reviews and complaints of poor customer service. Could this be an act of desperation? You be the judge.

---

Chosun Ilbo

Pragmatic MP3 Manufacturer Hires Porn Starlet

MP3 manufacturer Reigncom, recently described as an “outstanding firm” by Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, is making waves by using an adult film star in advertising for its new products.

Reigncom late last year introduced its portable multimedia player (PMP) onto the U.S. market, hiring U.S. porn starlet Jenna Jameson to appear in advertisements.

Industry sources say it was a pragmatic move. "One cannot ignore people using the PMP to watch adult material,” said one. “I think they were targeting these customers when we hired a porn actress."

"Males are the primary target for most digital equipment,” said another. “We tried to find an entertainer easily recognized by men, and we selected Jenna Jameson. There was nothing else behind the decision." Company officials said.

[HAL9000]

The Portable Porno Player will be a lucrative product for Microsoft. It will be popular at schools, restaurants, the beach, etc.

[Mr. Blonde]

How much different is this from putting any pretty woman in advertisements? The fact that she is a porn star will only matter to those who have seen her (ahem) acting. It would be different if they put a less attractive starlet on their ads.

[Moleman]

Jenna Jameson is HOTT and a slut. Not a role model for girls but Moleman would enjoy her.

[HAL9000]

The message of the advertisement is obvious - iRiver is promoting their gadget for the purpose of viewing hardcore pornography in public places.

[avg_freeper]

An Apple exec recently noted in some trade magazine that the reason they haven't released a video iPod is that there aren't any legal ways of transferring DVDs to these machines. It's probably easy enough to do though. But I'd guess that most of the video that exists today on peoples computers is in the form of pornos downloaded off the internet.

As computer based TV video recorders that do what TiVo does get more popular that will probably change.

[avg_freeper]

Here's a link to that article BTW:

iPod won't go to the movies

[Mr. Blonde]

They are promoting though to people who probably don't need any prodding. It doesn't say, as best as I can tell,"Jenna Jameson says watch porn in public on an iRiver device and all your fantasies will come true."

I don't know about this particular device but I recently saw a portable dvd player that stored 40 dvds on its hard drive. Now that is something I wouldn't mind having. All of my CDs were scratched up from carrying them around in a case to listen to them. This way that wouldn't happen to my DVDs.

[Bush2000]

Hey, porn stars listen to music, too....