Softening Porn

James DiGiorgio blogs:

…[P]orn packaging has become softer and softer over the years. It’s become something of a dichotomy considering what’s inside the packaging has become harder and harder. These days, much of porn’s outer shell, i.e., the packaging, is not much racier than what you’ll find in an average issue of Maxim or FHM. (And often-times, IMO, better shot and processed.) There’s a lot of reasons for the “softening” of adult products’ packaging, not the least of which is the fact that retail outlets like Fry’s and Hollywood Video and others now carry adult DVDs. The internet aside, you don’t have to don an over-sized raincoat and a big hat and sneak off to a sleazy adult bookstore these days to feed your appetite for porn, assuming you’re hungry for such stuff. What all this means is that the photography and the allure of the model — for the product to be competitive — has had to become better and better, at least in terms of glamour photography.