Kinky Capitalism

Recently I was looking through an old gay men’s magazine and casually glancing at the advertisements. It dawned on me that not so many years ago the only ads I would see in magazines targeted at gay men were directly related to the sexual. Bars and nightclubs. Sex gear and accessories. Clothing. Adult movies. That sort of thing. Then, some years back, as LGBT issues began to emerge from the shadows, more mainstream businesses began to understand the value of advertising directly to the LGBT community. That trend appears to be continuing to unfold.

I wonder if the same thing will begin to happen with the more sexually adventurous among us? Be they gay, heterosexual, bisexual or other, certain untapped kinky demographics might prove lucrative to businesses. Imagine a cruise line creating large cruise excursions specifically for kinky folks. What if clothing designers consulted directly with kinky focus groups about what styles of clothing would be attractive to them without necessarily always being overtly sexual? These are just two of countless ways businesses could market directly to this potential consumer opportunity.

And it’s not always about a service or product specifically tailoring itself to a demographic. Rather, it’s most often that the business simply demonstrates two things to those potential customers.

1. We know who you are and we think that’s cool.
2. We want you to use our services and products.

Those two things alone can show a group of people that they’re wanted, acknowledged, and not judged. I believe that sort of message could translate into generating significant sales among the more sexually adventurous. BDSM practitioners. Swingers. Polyamorists. Fetishists. Imagine the collective buying power all of these and other similar sexual subcultures have right now that is being essentially ignored by advertising agencies and marketing professionals.

I’m sure there are some in these subcultures that are not happy I’m pointing this out. They fear that such overt consumer targeting will dilute the hotness of the experience or somehow otherwise detract from some aspect of it. I disagree. It hasn’t happened with LGBT folks. For the most part, the benefits of mainstream business acknowledging and reaching out to kinky folks would ultimately not impact the foundational erotic play and identity if we don’t let it. The moment capitalism accepts a segment of society as a viable marketing demographic, it seems to grant to those people a certain amount of credibility and societal acceptance. Capitalism and social rights are intertwined in interesting ways.

Do you see benefits from the acceptance of various sexual subcultures as acknowledged targets of business marketing efforts? Or does the mixing of commerce and sexuality seem problematic to you? I’d be interested to hear what you think?