Pornhub, launched in Montreal in 2007, is one of those clever – if slightly scary – businesses that came along and irreversibly changed an industry. In ten years from launch it became the world’s most popular adult video site and the 36th most-visited website. To put that in perspective, it ranks higher than eBay or LinkedIn.

Moral dilemmas aside, it’s a clever business model. It superimposed the logic of internet search browsers onto porn, introducing keyword and category searches that completely destabilised power structures in the porn industry. It took power away from the professional producers of porn i.e. the porn stars, filmmakers and casting agents and placed it in the hands of the consumers, allowing viewers to become co-creators of porn. Now everyone can produce porn, but more importantly user choices and popularity scores inform the sort of porn being created.

 

Welcome to 2019, where @Pornhub is producing beerotica in order to save the bees and in effect, the Earth itself. https://t.co/W54rdbYZZK

— Curtis er død allerede (@cebsilver) 16 April 2019

Pornhub’s promotional material is just as innovative as the model. The mood of all their external communication is invariably tongue-in-cheek, whether on social media or in ad campaigns. The brand has a knack for cleverly working search keywords associated with holidays or pop-culture phenomena into their campaigns. Like changing their name to Hornhub one April Fools Day and replacing all their oral sex content with images of people playing wind instruments like trumpets and flutes, much to the frustration of anyone who actually searched for the term ‘blowjob’.

Ok I usually hate April Fools Day but @Pornhub have got me a spicy one pic.twitter.com/rIAUidNCic

— Michael Beveridge (@mickyb273) 1 April 2018

To coincide with the launch of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and anticipating a surge in internet searches about the cult film, the site cleverly announced a Star Wars-themed channel. The stunt apparently lead to a 1854% spike in daily web traffic for Pornhub.

Now, in a slightly weird but hilarious campaign, Pornhub has announced a channel dedicated entirely to bee porn. Yes, you read that right, they do mean the insects. The #BeeSexual ad spot reminds users of Pornhub’s noble belief that everyone including bees, should be having sex, particularly because bees mating is vital to the preservation of the environment.

Like the time Pornhub announced it would ‘Give America Wood’ – which meant they would plant a tree for every 100 times a ‘Big Dick’ category video was viewed – this campaign sits within the Pornhub Cares initiative. The company has a substantial social outreach programme and aligns itself with many a social cause; weaving playfulness into everything from sexual health to cancer awareness.

The campaign, released today and created by BETC Paris, is the result of Pornhub’s partnership with charity Operation Honey Bee and the Centre for Honeybee Research.

The #BeeSexual channel will house ‘funny kinky nature porn’, narrated by some of the world’s most popular porn stars. As you’d expect, a spot to advertise it satirises popular porn tropes and is rich with bee-inspired innuendo, which will undoubtedly make you chuckle or, you never know, turn you on. Whatever floats your boat, so long as you remember to care for the bees along the way.

pornhub.com/cares