Boxcovers

Mainstream movies sell to the public through media ranging from ads to reviews to interviews with stars. Porn, however, has to sell itself almost instantaneously. There's little mainstream coverage of new flicks, and reviews hit the stands in sex mags weeks after the video appears at the local shop. Word of mouth has limited sales value because most people do not consider porn appropriate for public discussion. Therefore, the boxcover must grab the potential customer immediately. Often he wants to spend as little time as possible in a store. So glowing images on the porn package have come, during the video age, to take precedence over the product. Porn sells boxcovers, said a wit, and throws in the video. (Charles Isherwood, author of Wonder Bread and Ecstasy)