Source: TheStandard.com
By: David Sims
No one had much to say about it, but no one could turn down a headline that had both "Yahoo" and "porn" in it – even if it was the second time in a week. Yahoo, which had done so much at midweek to warm the icy hearts of headline writers when the L.A. Times reported that it was selling adult videos and DVDs, obliged again at week’s end by yanking the porn off its shopping site. The P.R. move was made simple by a spokeswoman’s assertion that "it was an infinitesimal portion of our revenues."
Publications tried to find a unique angle on the sudden shift. The Wall Street Journal’s Mylene Mangalindan looked at it from the marketing point of view, finding a Forrester analyst who warned that "a tainted brand can rub off on your own." Over at CBS MarketWatch, Susan Lerner found a political angle, reporting that the conservative American Family Association was urging Attorney General John Ashcroft to prosecute Yahoo "for its direct involvement in the sale and distribution of obscene material and child pornography."
Most reports portrayed Yahoo president Jeff Mallett reacting promptly and with concern to complaints from users. "Our users are our business," a Yahoo spokesman said. Of course, the same could be said for just about any industry – including adult entertainment.
