Dennis RomeroSee a quasi-NSFW slideshow of the last Adultcon here.
When is there too much porn in this here adult video capital of America?
When it interferes with business, says the man who runs the seven-year-strong Adultcon gatherings at the L.A. Convention Center. The folks behind Adultcon are steaming because the center has allowed to competing events to take place within three months of its own shindigs, a too-close-for-comfort occurrence they say doesn't happen at other big-city halls.
And so Adultcon VP Renaud West has thrown down the (phallic) gauntlet:
It's canceling two of three shows for 2012 — that is unless the Convention Center relents and lets it have a three-month adult exclusive for its gatherings of the scantily clad and purveyors of fine latex goods.
Adultcon.; Credit: Keith Plocek
Exxxotica and the Everything to Do With Sex Show have moved into adjacent time slots (Exxxotic happens only a month after Adultcon's main July slot), and West argues that they simply soak up the marketing and audience that his event has built up over the years.
In other words, do fans of rubberized plastics, leather restraining devices and five-minute cinema know the difference? West:
We've worked ten years to build the brand locally and when you have another show come to the building in our opinion, because it's the same concept, they're piggybacking on what we build.
What's more, he claims that Exxxotica gets three-month exclusivity clauses at its other conventions — in Miami, Chicago, and New Jersey. Ironic?
Bottom line: He says it doesn't make economic sense for the Convention Center to alienate its biggest porn show (Adultcon claims 30,000 customers for its three annual events there) in favor of smaller happenings.
We sort of agree: We can't imagine the convention folks letting an E3 competitor in the building. Adultcon isn't the grand daddy of adult conventions. That would be AVN in Las Vegas. But it is the big dog in L.A. Why not give it some respect, even if it is half-naked?
We offered to let convention officials speak for themselves. So far they're mum.
[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]
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