Bad experience at Erotica: an open letter
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:40 am
This letter to be sent to Erotica, AITA, ETO, BGAFD and other UK adult industry bodies.
I'm writing with regard to the events of Sunday afternoon at the Erotica show.
As you may be aware my company, Strictly Broadband, had a stand at the show, as we also did last year. We used the stand to promote our online adult movie service, which we did by distributing scratch cards. As we did last year, we hired well-known adult models to appear throughout the show, for two-hour slots, to attract visitors to our stand. We promoted the stand (and the Erotica show) to our mailing list of over 100,000 UK adults in the weeks before the show. We arranged a line-up of over 20 models, of whom 18 turned up and worked for us, each for a 2-hour period. As each girl arrived at the stand, we gave her an outfit to wear featuring our logo.
On Sunday evening, one of the models (who had worked with us from 3pm to 5pm) apparently then walked the show carrying a few flyers for another business. I've no idea whether this was her business, or if she was paid to promote someone else, nor do I consider it any of my business. She was, however breaking Erotica rules and was unfortunate enough to bump into Savvas himself; he stopped her and asked for a flyer. When she handed him one, he ordered her evicted from the show in her vest, pants and stockings. She managed to persuade him to let her get dressed and collect her things before leaving the show. She was of course very upset at being manhandled, but accepted she'd broken the show rules. The fact that Savvas seemed to enjoy physically throwing out a girl wearing underwear into the November night, surrounded by drunk, male Erotica attendees is none of my business - it's between Savvas and the model concerned. The way she was treated however was heavy-handed and unnecessary, and caused her and witnesses some upset.
Having seen that the model was wearing our logo, Savvas understandably assumed she was distributing flyers on Strictly Broadband's behalf, although she explained to him otherwise. He then came to our stand and I also explained that the flyers were not ours, I was not paying her to distribute them, and I'd only paid her to work on my stand for two hours earlier in the day. Savvas continued to insist that I take responsibility for her behaviour, and I refused to do so. As I mentioned above, I employed 18 models during the show, all of whom were wearing our logo. Many dozens of other people have received our branded wear at other times too. I take no responsibility for their behaviour, unless they are working for me at the time. I'd assume that Savvas would take no responsibility for the behaviour of the thousands of people who left Olympia this weekend carrying his Erotica logo on bags. It would be ludicrous to expect him too.
Yet Savvas stood by his demand that I take responsibility for the behaviour of these people. I refused to take responsibility, and he responded by barring me from exhibiting at Erotica again. I responded just by saying "Fine." All of this is Savvas' choice: Erotica is his show, and he can choose who exhibits there. And if he wants to throw his weight around at Erotica, he can - he's the boss.
My main complaint is about what followed. Savvas then sent three suited monkeys to attend our booth, harass myself, my staff and models, and our customers. They were clearly under orders to intimidate and upset people, which is what they did. They upset and harassed my stand staff, and made sure that no more customers visited our stand for the remainder of the show. They forced their way onto our stand, sat on our chairs and refused to leave - I'd assume this is in breach of contract as we were effectively prevented from using the stand as intended. The three thugs picked up our flyers and threw them on the floor. They drew childish pictures on our table-cloth (although I admit I was pleasantly surprised to find they had opposable thumbs and were able to handle a ballpoint). They made snide remarks towards myself, my staff and visitors, including young female models and a man in a wheelchair.
I was so concerned at one stage that I asked a security guy I knew from a nearby booth to keep an eye on our stand, as doubtless they were trying to provoke a situation whereby they could get more physical.
Now in my opinion, this isn't how grown-ups do business. It's the way school bullies behave. I've never seen such behaviour at any business-related event. Savvas apparently got some kind of personal kick out of harassing me, presumably as revenge for refusing to take the blame for someone else's mistake, but I'm still certain that neither I nor my staff did nothing to deserve this treatment. I'm not upset that we won't be exhibiting again. Erotica has gained a reputation as a business that is no friend to the adult industry, and we'll have no problem in finding other ways to spend our marketing budget.
I will be explaining to our partners and customers why were banned, and why we feel that Erotica no longer serves the needs of people wishing to lead an adult lifestyle. I've already heard from other exhibitors at this year's show who also have issues with the way they were treated, and I hope they make their voices heard.
So from Strictly Broadband at least, Goodbye Erotica.
I'm writing with regard to the events of Sunday afternoon at the Erotica show.
As you may be aware my company, Strictly Broadband, had a stand at the show, as we also did last year. We used the stand to promote our online adult movie service, which we did by distributing scratch cards. As we did last year, we hired well-known adult models to appear throughout the show, for two-hour slots, to attract visitors to our stand. We promoted the stand (and the Erotica show) to our mailing list of over 100,000 UK adults in the weeks before the show. We arranged a line-up of over 20 models, of whom 18 turned up and worked for us, each for a 2-hour period. As each girl arrived at the stand, we gave her an outfit to wear featuring our logo.
On Sunday evening, one of the models (who had worked with us from 3pm to 5pm) apparently then walked the show carrying a few flyers for another business. I've no idea whether this was her business, or if she was paid to promote someone else, nor do I consider it any of my business. She was, however breaking Erotica rules and was unfortunate enough to bump into Savvas himself; he stopped her and asked for a flyer. When she handed him one, he ordered her evicted from the show in her vest, pants and stockings. She managed to persuade him to let her get dressed and collect her things before leaving the show. She was of course very upset at being manhandled, but accepted she'd broken the show rules. The fact that Savvas seemed to enjoy physically throwing out a girl wearing underwear into the November night, surrounded by drunk, male Erotica attendees is none of my business - it's between Savvas and the model concerned. The way she was treated however was heavy-handed and unnecessary, and caused her and witnesses some upset.
Having seen that the model was wearing our logo, Savvas understandably assumed she was distributing flyers on Strictly Broadband's behalf, although she explained to him otherwise. He then came to our stand and I also explained that the flyers were not ours, I was not paying her to distribute them, and I'd only paid her to work on my stand for two hours earlier in the day. Savvas continued to insist that I take responsibility for her behaviour, and I refused to do so. As I mentioned above, I employed 18 models during the show, all of whom were wearing our logo. Many dozens of other people have received our branded wear at other times too. I take no responsibility for their behaviour, unless they are working for me at the time. I'd assume that Savvas would take no responsibility for the behaviour of the thousands of people who left Olympia this weekend carrying his Erotica logo on bags. It would be ludicrous to expect him too.
Yet Savvas stood by his demand that I take responsibility for the behaviour of these people. I refused to take responsibility, and he responded by barring me from exhibiting at Erotica again. I responded just by saying "Fine." All of this is Savvas' choice: Erotica is his show, and he can choose who exhibits there. And if he wants to throw his weight around at Erotica, he can - he's the boss.
My main complaint is about what followed. Savvas then sent three suited monkeys to attend our booth, harass myself, my staff and models, and our customers. They were clearly under orders to intimidate and upset people, which is what they did. They upset and harassed my stand staff, and made sure that no more customers visited our stand for the remainder of the show. They forced their way onto our stand, sat on our chairs and refused to leave - I'd assume this is in breach of contract as we were effectively prevented from using the stand as intended. The three thugs picked up our flyers and threw them on the floor. They drew childish pictures on our table-cloth (although I admit I was pleasantly surprised to find they had opposable thumbs and were able to handle a ballpoint). They made snide remarks towards myself, my staff and visitors, including young female models and a man in a wheelchair.
I was so concerned at one stage that I asked a security guy I knew from a nearby booth to keep an eye on our stand, as doubtless they were trying to provoke a situation whereby they could get more physical.
Now in my opinion, this isn't how grown-ups do business. It's the way school bullies behave. I've never seen such behaviour at any business-related event. Savvas apparently got some kind of personal kick out of harassing me, presumably as revenge for refusing to take the blame for someone else's mistake, but I'm still certain that neither I nor my staff did nothing to deserve this treatment. I'm not upset that we won't be exhibiting again. Erotica has gained a reputation as a business that is no friend to the adult industry, and we'll have no problem in finding other ways to spend our marketing budget.
I will be explaining to our partners and customers why were banned, and why we feel that Erotica no longer serves the needs of people wishing to lead an adult lifestyle. I've already heard from other exhibitors at this year's show who also have issues with the way they were treated, and I hope they make their voices heard.
So from Strictly Broadband at least, Goodbye Erotica.