Porn star martini Pizza Express

[Flour8977]

Why are Pizza Express advertising 'Porn Star Martinis' on every table at their restaurants? AIBU to find this disgusting for a family restaurant? I don't really wish to explain to my 6 year old what it is.

It’s a cocktail, a drink…. Don’t see the issue or why it would be an awkward conversation 🤷🏼‍♀️

So if your dc does accept that it's just "the name of a drink" what's to stop them asking for one on their next play date?

If your child asks for a martini on a playdate I don't think it's going to the fact that she uttered the word porn that raises eyebrows

@GoodJanetBadJanet

So if your dc does accept that it's just "the name of a drink" what's to stop them asking for one on their next play date?

Lol, surely if they asked for one you'd say what you'd presumably say if they asked for a pint of beer?!
'' No, sorry that's a grown up alcohol drink, how about a lemonade or fruit shoot instead with your pizza? ''

The issue surely is that the child has learned a new word - pornstar - and won't just use it around their parents. The "what I did at the weekend" diary at school? Saying it in front of another parent who doesn't realise they learned it from pizza express, rather than porn hub?

Gosh I really couldn’t get worked up. Just move the sign and get on with ordering yummy pizza

@LittleDidSheKnow

The Pizza Express franchise obviously want to capitalise on the ladies who lunch

So you think a group of women are going to be drawn in and sold by "porn star"?

It's definitely a popular drink with women! I went out last weekend and practically every woman had one.

i agree with you OP

I don’t it’s nice that young children think “porn star” is normal enough volcabuary that it can be used in a pizza restaurant.

Why not passion fruit ''born a star'' martini and I think we can all figure it out.

Give over with the faux wide eyed naivety - bollocks is not just a name for a drink, it’s the normalisation of “porn star” as a “luxury lifestyle choice”

If you really can’t see that you are extremely lucky never to have met someone damaged by prostitution/stripping/porn or extremely naive, either way it doesn’t change the damaging message of the pontification of our culture.

The issue surely is that the child has learned a new word - pornstar - and won't just use it around their parents. The "what I did at the weekend" diary at school?
They'd use it in context then surely - "went to pizza express and mum had a pornstar martini. ''
Unless mum had gone into detail about the pork industry and the exploitation of women etc over dinner instead.
Which you really wouldn't do, surely, just say its the name of a drink?
Age appropriate answers like anything when it comes to answering kids

Porn industry, not pork industry FFS 🤣

It's not just about the 6 year olds, what about the 13/14 year old ones out for lunch with their friends or at a birthday party? Pornstar, the next step up from tiktok dance.

I see on Twitter that they say it will be removed - but when the table thingys are next updated - surely it would have been removed then anyway?

I'm really not. What's wrong with it? It's just juice and the venue we go to put a little passion fruit on the top.

LOL dear, just make sure you don’t Google “virgin pornstar” at any point, I’d hate for you to get an unseemly shock 🤣

@tigerbird

I'm really not. What's wrong with it? It's just juice and the venue we go to put a little passion fruit on the top.

LOL dear, just make sure you don’t Google “virgin pornstar” at any point, I’d hate for you to get an unseemly shock 🤣

Sure I'll be fine as I've worked in Bars for the last 12 years.

Actually if sell enough pre ordered Pornstar Martinis I will hit my quarter bonus :)

@AskingforaBaskin I’m not sure you’re grasping the conversation here 😂

I really am.

Maybe I am desensitised but this is a brilliant business decision.

The market for this cocktail is there. I did laugh at the comment regarding girls after this cocktail not making much.

It's the profit margin is quiet high and the turn around is swift.

I think that's disgraceful. It's a family restaurant!

I've been Googling some more cocktail names for Pizza Express to use in their next promotion:

Jesus Juice (Coke + wine, named after the drink Michael Jackson "allegedly" plied his child victims with). Offensive? Nah, just a cocktail.

1-900-FUK-MEUP (Absolute Kurant, Grand Marnier, Chambord, Midori Melon Liqueur, Malibu and Amaretto.). Perfect to have advertised in the centre of every table in the family restaurant. Not inappropriate - just the name of a cocktail.

Cock Sucking Cowboy (Butterscotch Schnapps + Baileys). Fine for the kids. They can have a virgin cocksucking cowboy, made with milk and Angel Delight. It's just a name.

Red-Headed Slut (Jaegermeister, Peach Schnapps, Cranberry Juice). Nothing misogynistic about this at all. Perfectly fine name for a fun drink.

Afghanistani Whore (Rum, Root Beer, Vodka). Such fun. It's just words.

I thought Jesus Juice was the cheap wine they use in church. misses point

Those names of cocktails aren’t as popular as the pornstar martini though, are they? So your post is pretty pointless. Not saying I agree with it but to be a diplomatic voice in this - my friend owns a bar/restaurant with a kids menu, very popular with all the yummy mummy families round here etc. their top selling cocktail is…pornstar martini. So yeah, pizza express are probably just trying to appeal to a different consumer that will spend more - tables drinking alcohol always have a much larger bill than say a mum having a coffee and their child having a three course kids menu pizza deal for £7. You can’t really blame them for trying to appeal to a wider market that will potentially add to their profits in the current climate.

Yes, because porn stars are completely comparable with racism hmmbiscuit
FFS

It is actually possible to avoid deliberately offending more than one group of people at a time, without invoking a hierarchy and thus actively ignoring anything other than the one you deem the most offensive.

Racism being bad doesn't make misogyny by default 'OK'.

@Flowerpower23

Those names of cocktails aren’t as popular as the pornstar martini though, are they? So your post is pretty pointless. Not saying I agree with it but to be a diplomatic voice in this - my friend owns a bar/restaurant with a kids menu, very popular with all the yummy mummy families round here etc. their top selling cocktail is…pornstar martini. So yeah, pizza express are probably just trying to appeal to a different consumer that will spend more - tables drinking alcohol always have a much larger bill than say a mum having a coffee and their child having a three course kids menu pizza deal for £7. You can’t really blame them for trying to appeal to a wider market that will potentially add to their profits in the current climate.

You're missing my point. Nobody is wondering WHY Pizza Express have made the choice to advertise Pornstar Martinis prominently on all their tables, but they are wondering whether they should.

The main argument for PE's marketing ploy is "It's just a name. No harm done" and I was demonstrating that there are limits to what words can acceptably be displayed in a family restaurant.

The debate is whether "Pornstar" is a suitable word to put before children of all ages and stages, not whether Pizza Express will make enough profits off it.

That's also a very good point upthread, CaveMum, about the Playboy stationery that was squarely aimed at children.

I remember being horrified and unable to believe that so many people were blase about it and parents presumably buying it for their kids.

I suppose we should have realised that "it's just a pencil case" and that exposing children to the Playboy brand in such a positive and ubiquitous way couldn't possibly lead them to Google the name or make/discover any connection with the magazines at all....

Just think of all those silly companies paying millions to have their names displayed on footballers' shirts, when it won't have any effect on people engaging positively with their wider brand