According to Metro UK’s Rebecca Reid, ‘Porn Star Martinis’ have been served in bars for at least a decade. Only recently, however, have people started to get outraged.
The drink, which consists of multiple vodkas, Prosecco, juices and purees, sugar and a passion fruit garnish, is apparently Instagram gold. According to Revolution Bars, a Porn Star Martini is “always going to get you plenty of likes on the ‘gram.” As such, the drink “has seen a rise in popularity over recent years, becoming one of the most loved (and most photographed) cocktails of all times!”
Porn Star Martinis were “invented” in 1999 in London by a man named Douglas Ankrah. Regarding the name, Ankrah said: “I called it ‘Pornstar’ because I thought it was something that a Pornstar would drink, there’s nothing sexual there. Pornstar is a stylish and confident drink, it’s pure indulgence, sexy, fun and evocative.” (sic)
Ankrah’s statement, though a bit off mark, seems to be made in a spirit of niceness and respect. When you see a picture of how the drink is actually presented though, you realize he’s totally bullshitting about the “nothing sexual” part. The passion fruit garnish is the ultimate double entendre and highly sexualized, which is fine:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzkebk0HO4I/
Though it’s a bit of a classic at this point, the Porn Star Martini has beat the odds and actually increased increased in popularity since the ’90s. (For slightly more recent comparisons, think Cosmos and Appletinis — Where are they today?) The martini is so popular, in fact, that Marks & Spencer (M&S) – a British multinational retailer that specializes in selling high quality clothing, home products and food products — started selling them in canned form last year. Here’s where the outrage came in.
A person named Sarah Gail Brand spotted some canned Porn Star Martinis in an M&S, which caused her to feel feelings. On July 4, she tweeted: Porn star martini? PORN STAR MARTINI? Marks and bloody Spencer, WTF is going on?
https://twitter.com/sarahgailbrand/status/1146823601515040768
Sigh.
As Reid summed it up, “There are people who find the name of the drink offensive and feel that a supermarket shouldn’t be allowed to label a drink with the word ‘porn.’”
She continued, “Further objections suggested that it would be difficult to explain to a child who saw the drink what a porn star was” – the fact that the “booze aisle of a supermarket isn’t really for children in the first place” and that stores like M&S also stock other non-child friendly items like cigarettes, condoms, lube and sex toys notwithstanding.
Though Ankrah invented the drink long before clickbait was a thing, M&S’s relatively recent decision to mass-produce Porn Star Martinis in canned form totally is, marking yet another instance of the mainstream world exploiting the adult entertainment community.
Further, it’s funny that a person — specifically, Brand — can’t seem to at least appreciate the double-entendres here. She included the statement, “In the topsy-turvy world of heavy rock, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful,” in her Twitter bio, which implies she at least has some understanding of multiple meanings and sexualized marketing/presentation. I guess not when it comes to cheeky drink names though.
Images via Sarah Brand’s Twitter and revolution-bars.co.uk. Screen grabs via YNOT.
