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| by Dave Michaels |
August 31, 2000
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| "AVN's Adult Entertainment Expo"
Living up to it's reputation of being the redheaded stepchild of the video
industry, the porn world held it's annual convention for video retailers,
hidden in the shadows of the mainstream video world of the Video Software
Dealer's Association convention.
For years, the porn world was a part of the yearly gathering of Mom and Pop
video retailers, to showcase it's wares alongside the likes of the major
Hollywood studios. Well, maybe not alongside. More like hidden in the back
of the convention hall behind a dark curtain that was manned by at least one
security guard at all times.
Finally, the stigma of associating with flesh peddlers got to be too much for
the VSDA and the Powers-That-Be decided that they would do just about
anything to rid themselves of these invading porn mongrels. Apparently, the
garrish, glittery, minimalist costumes that the porn girls took attention
away from the garrish, glittery, minimalist booths that non-porn retailers
were operating.
Never one to shy away from such things (either that or the industry as a
whole didn't realize that they weren't wanted there), the adult industry
returned to Las Vegas this year, without an official invite from the VSDA
promoters, to put on their own mini-VSDA convention.
Entitled the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, the convention, which ran right
alongside the mainstream VSDA for three days, was hosted by AVN Magazine,
generally recognized as the Hollywood Reporter/Variety of the adult vid
industry.
Set up in a spacious hall in the back of the Venetian Hotel and Casino, the
Adult Expo, in a weird coincidence, was situated right between the mainstream
VSDA convention on one side and a gathering of pre-adolescent Jon Benet-like
beauty pageanters in their own convention hall.
While attendance was fairly tepid in comparison to many of the other industry
convention, the number of visitors to the AVN Expo kept pace with the VSDA
convention. Many of the video store owners in attendance noted that adult
video was their bread and butter and was the only thing that allowed the
smaller, independent stores to compete with large national chains like
Blockbuster Video.
Most all of the industry heavy-hitters, like Vivid Video, Wicked Pictures,
VCA, General Video of America, and New Sensations, hosted giant booths that
promoted contract girls and upcoming video and DVD projects. One of the
show's sponsors, Video Team, dropped out of the show at the last minute, although company owner Chris Mann did business out of his briefcase while wandering around the convention floor.
No convention is complete these days without appearances by Bill Margold's
Free Speach Coalition booth and Sharon Mitchell's AIM Health Care. Both were aided by regular contributors like Christi Lake (Free Speech) and Tony Montana (AIM) as well as a number of newcomers to the biz who were anxious to help out while getting exposure.
Perhaps because of low attendance, plans are underway to combine the VSDA and
Adult Entertainment Expo with the annual Consumer Electronics Show, held each
January in Las Vegas.
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