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.

@canary1

Thanks to the poster explaining that Ask / Zizzi advertise passion fruit martini. And it’s not ‘pearl clutching’ to want to avoid your 6 year old asking what does ‘porn star’ mean.

@canary1 - but there are as I said at least 5 or 6 family restaurants in my area - 3-4 where I've definitely seen young children with parents - and all advertise Pornstar Martinis on their menus. These restaurants have a mixture of families/friends etc and have bottomless brunches/lunches etc.

Not on separate menu cards mind you.

So you'd say these restaurants should rename their cocktails just in case children ask about the name?

Oh YANBU, I don't like that at all. No reason for it in a family restaurant, just uncomfortable and innappropriate. Probably bad business too.

Pretty sure M&S changed the name of theirs too, to something like passion star martini.

Why is it called that in the first place? Shit name.

Soooo if they also have Sex on the Beach, Slow Comfortable Screw, should these be renamed or removed from the drinks menu?

A child doesnt have the same frame of reference when reading it so wont question that it has to be something else other than a cocktail.

Really depends on the child. A lot of slightly older, more inquisitive children will ask what it is and then, on being told that it's a cocktail, will ask why it's called that. If it's something like a White Russian, you can say that it contains vodka, which is the a very popular drink in/from Russia (OK, not right at the moment) or a Manhattan, you tell them that's where it originated/was inspired by. Not quite so easy with a porn star martini.

As PP said, spotted dick was never deliberately called that to be rude - 'dick' is just an old dialect word meaning doughy pudding. Cocktails, otoh, are deliberately named rude things - for no other reason than to see how far the original namers can get away with it - with the (ironically) childish deniability built in that 'it's not rude - it's just a cocktail'.

Yes, they're adult drinks, but frequently sold/advertised in places where children go. Would you be happy for them to advertise 'sex on the beach' or 'long comfortable screw against the wall'? It's probably only a matter of time before some 'hilarious' boundary-pushing person comes up with one called 'take me up the arse outside Tesco' or similar - which isn't really that different from long comfortable screw. Would that be OK?

They need to know their audience and sell them as 'passion fruit martinis' - even 'PS Martinis' if they really must. Pathetic adult jokes have no place in an establishment that actively targets families.

I think you might be over thinking this a little

I think porn is an awful, exploitative industry that preys on vulnerable people and uses women as objects. It can be detrimental to its consumers, too. Why the fuck should the name of such an industry be used to advertise a drink
If that's overthinking, then great, I'm an overthinker.

It's better than being cool with the trafficking and abuse of women and girls.

FFS some people are so desperate to be “cool” about everything. “It’s only sex, don’t be such a prude!”

I have a 4yo who is learning to read. He loves to read words on signs/menus etc out loud to show off his skills. I do not want him attempting to sound out “Porn Star Martini” phonetically in the middle of a restaurant.

@IBelieveInBiology

Urgh, how horrible. It's not just that it's inappropriate in a family setting and may provoke awkward questions from children (not all of whom are 6 ), and it's not just that it's related to sex - sex is great. It's the whole vibe of the term "porn star", as if it were something glamorous and aspirational, involving sipping cocktails and a luxury life... rather than a sordid, disgusting exploitation of women; many of whom may have been trafficked or have got into a situation they don't want to be in.

Best you not go to iceland soon as you past the freezer with spotted dick in you'll be keeling over

It's wrong because it's normalising porn. Sex on the beach is completely different as sex is just a word.

You can tell restaurants class by what they call it. I really only really frequent ones that either don't serve it at all or call it something else, usually a Passion Martini or similar. I think thats pretty poor of Pizza Express.

This is interesting - I notice M&S rebranded theirs to Passion Star Martinis - apparently they were asked to do so by an industry body representing responsible drinking:

www.you.co.uk/marks-spencer-porn-star-martini-name-change/

@iloveeverykindofcat

Oh YANBU, I don't like that at all. No reason for it in a family restaurant, just uncomfortable and innappropriate. Probably bad business too.

@iloveeverykindofcat - trust me - the restaurants where I've seen Pornstar Martini cocktails are all family and have very good business.

There are a couple of them which are more 'grown up' and bar like, where you wouldn't expect children to be taken but even if there were children there, I'd just expect the children to read the menu, if they asked what the more explicit ones meant either tell them or don't.

@Fupoffyagrasshole

What’s a pornstar Martini mum?

A drink love

End of conversation 😂😂😂

Absolutely. An older child might giggle, but then maybe you should’ve raised them better so they don’t know what a porn star is

Aw get a life! Move the thing off the table if ur that bothered and don’t order one for you …. Or ur 6 year old

@SweetNcrunchy

You can tell restaurants class by what they call it. I really only really frequent ones that either don't serve it at all or call it something else, usually a Passion Martini or similar. I think thats pretty poor of Pizza Express.

@SweetNcrunchy - I'd really better email these establishments and tell them how classless they are (one has been there since late 1970s) and how they should definitely change the name.

Soooo if they also have Sex on the Beach, Slow Comfortable Screw, should these be renamed or removed from the drinks menu?

I haven’t seen those drinks on anything other than tacky holiday bars for years and I would never order one even if that’s what I wanted to drink because it’s tacky.

So yes I’d absolutely expect not to see those on family restaurant menus. That said there is a massive difference between a reference to sex and a reference to a deeply misogynistic, abusive, exploitative industry.

@SweetNcrunchy

You can tell restaurants class by what they call it. I really only really frequent ones that either don't serve it at all or call it something else, usually a Passion Martini or similar. I think thats pretty poor of Pizza Express.

Oh dear god 🤣

You put it much more succinctly than I did!

At least a "Take me up the arse behind Tesco" implies consenting adults!

I went a family restaurant that had this advertised on the tables as a promo so I instigated a discussion with the manager about the origins of the cocktail and urban legends around it - he didn't like that at all and said "little ears" pointing at children on other tables. I pointed out the lunacy of selling something we weren't allowed to discuss and low and behold the next week it was a passionfruit martini.

IME most decent bars and restaurants have changed them to “passion fruit martinis”

I think you might be over thinking this a little.

Would you say the same if it was a negative racially-loaded word? 'Oh, it's just a name' ?

It is true that cocktails are deliberately designed and promoted as glamorous, fashionable, fun-time drinks - their names do give credence to the terms they use for their names.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

A child doesnt have the same frame of reference when reading it so wont question that it has to be something else other than a cocktail.

Really depends on the child. A lot of slightly older, more inquisitive children will ask what it is and then, on being told that it's a cocktail, will ask why it's called that. If it's something like a White Russian, you can say that it contains vodka, which is the a very popular drink in/from Russia (OK, not right at the moment) or a Manhattan, you tell them that's where it originated/was inspired by. Not quite so easy with a porn star martini.

As PP said, spotted dick was never deliberately called that to be rude - 'dick' is just an old dialect word meaning doughy pudding. Cocktails, otoh, are deliberately named rude things - for no other reason than to see how far the original namers can get away with it - with the (ironically) childish deniability built in that 'it's not rude - it's just a cocktail'.

Yes, they're adult drinks, but frequently sold/advertised in places where children go. Would you be happy for them to advertise 'sex on the beach' or 'long comfortable screw against the wall'? It's probably only a matter of time before some 'hilarious' boundary-pushing person comes up with one called 'take me up the arse outside Tesco' or similar - which isn't really that different from long comfortable screw. Would that be OK?

They need to know their audience and sell them as 'passion fruit martinis' - even 'PS Martinis' if they really must. Pathetic adult jokes have no place in an establishment that actively targets families.

Sorry but 'take me up the arse outside Tesco' just made me snort

I don't like any of these nudge nudge cocktail names. In a place aimed at young people wanting to get pissed on sweet booze with cheeky names, I get it. In Pizza Express though?!

Am laughing at 'just tell your child its a drink'

Like kids haven't heard of porn or seen it on someone's big brothers phone

Wake up folks

It’s a family restaurant - they should advertise them at the bar only. Or call them passionfruit martinis