Columbia House, that company we have all subscribed to at least once which sent us 12 CDs or cassettes for nothing but the exorbinant cost of shipping and handling (as long as we bought six more in the next two years), has decided to expand its product base to include pornography. While the business will be handled by a subsidiary and under a different name, (Hush), it is fully owned by Columbia House and is in partnership with Playboy. The company promises that they will not offer Hush products to their current client base. Instead, Playboy will handle the marketing, sending information to their direct mailing list which numbers in the millions.
If there was any doubt as to the pervastion of pornography in our society, this should further silence those doubts. Pornography has become mainstream. Already a multi-billion dollar industry, pornography is expanding at a startling rate. One has to wonder just how much pornography people need! Companies like Columbia House have been hurt by hit hard by internet distributors such as Amazon which sell music and videos at bargain basement prices, but pornography has experienced exponential growth. So as we might expect, this is a decision based entirely on dollars and cents. Right and wrong have little sway over profit margins and share price.
If you are one of the 8.5 million Columbia House members, perhaps this would be an appropriate time to sever your membership and to let the company know why you chose to do so.
