Adam & Eve (company)

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Adam & Eve
Private
Industry Sex industry
Founded North Carolina, United States (1970)
Founder Phil Harvey and Tim Black
Headquarters Hillsborough, North Carolina, United States
Products Sex toys, personal lubricants, pornographic films, condoms
Parent PHE, Inc.
Website http://www.adameve.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Adam & Eve is a conglomerate company that sells sex toys and produces pornographic films, as well as funding non-profit social marketing organizations that address issues such as population growth, disease control and sex education in developing countries. In 2006, it was described by Reuters as one of the handful of studios that dominate the U.S. porn industry.[2] The company is the largest mail-order distributor of condoms, sex toys, and pornographic films in the United States.[1] Founder Phil Harvey has been called "one of the most influential figures in the American sex industry today".[1] Its parent company, PHE Inc., is the largest private employer in Hillsborough, North Carolina, where its headquarters are situated.[1]

Origins

Adam & Eve was founded in 1970 by physician Paul Mueller and Phil Harvey. It started as a small storefront on one of Chapel Hill, North Carolina's main streets, selling condoms and lubricants. It soon became a mail-order catalog selling contraceptives through non-medical channels.[1]

Harvey, having just returned from India as a part of the CARE pre-school feeding program, concluded that poor family planning was the source of many social problems. While still a graduate student at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health, Harvey and Mueller conceived Adam & Eve to fund a non-profit organization in hopes of using the profits to finance family-planning programs in developing countries,.[3] With a Ford Foundation fellowship, the two men devised a plan to use social marketing in the U.S., and with university consent, they began writing witty ad copy ("What will you get her this Christmas -- pregnant?") [3] and advertising condoms in the mail. After running ads in 300 of the largest U.S. college newspapers, the orders started and did not stop. Though selling condoms via the mail was in violation of the Comstock Act (not overturned judicially in its entirety until 1972), Harvey and Mueller knew the law was rarely enforced. Success ensued, and the men began to see a profit, stating, "The mail-order condom market was just sitting there waiting for somebody," recalls Harvey. "We'd sit down at the end of the week and pay our bills and I'd say, 'There seems to be some money leftover here.' That's about how much we knew about business. He also gives authors a chance to write for his videos." [3]

Philanthropy

Population Services International

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Main article: Population Services International

With business generating more than enough revenue to cover costs, the partners wondered if the condom business could create enough of a profit to finance overseas social-marketing projects. If so, they would have the ability to bypass conventional donors and function with complete autonomy. With that, the men launched Population Services International (PSI), and by 1975 were conducting condom marketing programs in Bangladesh and Kenya. Though Harvey left his position as the director in the late 1970s, PSI still sells birth control and health products in over 60 countries and is prominent in international family planning.

DKT International

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Main article: DKT International

In the late 1970s, Harvey focused more on running Adam & Eve, but in 1989, he launched DKT International (DKT), an organization that promotes family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.[1][4] Much of DKT's revenue comes from its sales of low-cost contraceptives, but Adam & Eve also donates more than 25% of its profits to DKT.[4][5] While DKT's biggest programs draw funding from government agencies and foundations, its private funding allows it to be a more innovative and agile participant in its discipline.[6] DKT's social marketing strategies have included advertising, creating location-specific brands, working with local social networks and militaries, and targeting high-risk groups.[6][7][8][9][10]

Pornographic film studio

The major American pornographic film studios promote their latest releases to and seek funds for new productions from the company because of its huge buying power.[1] In 2009, the company donated funds to the Free Speech Coalition.[11] Its contract stars to date have included Juli Ashton, Mari Possa, Austyn Moore,[12][13][14][15][16][17] Carmen Luvana,[18][19] Ava Rose,[20] Sophia Lynn, Bree Olson, Kayden Kross, Alexis Ford, and Teagan Presley.

Awards

The following is a selection of awards Adam & Eve and its production company have won:

  • 2003 AVN Award - 'Best Specialty Release, Other Genre' for Internal Affairs 5 [21]
  • 2003 AVN award - 'Best Continuing Video Series' for Naked Hollywood[21]
  • 2004 AVN Award - 'Best Video Feature' for Rawhide [21]
  • 2005 AVN Award - 'Best Specialty Release - Spanking' for Nina Hartley's Guide to Spanking [21]
  • 2006 AVN Award - 'Best DVD' for Pirates [21]
  • 2006 AVN Award - 'Best Video Feature' for Pirates [21]
  • 2008 AVN Award - 'Top Selling Title of the Year – 2007' for Pirates [22]
  • 2008 XBIZ Award - 'Best Online Retailer - AdamEve.com' [23]
  • 2009 AVN Award - 'Best Sex Comedy' for Not Bewitched XXX [24]
  • 2009 AVN Award - 'Best Online Marketing Campaign - Individual Project' for 'Roller Dollz' [25]
  • 2009 AVN Award - 'Best Original Song' for 'Dark City' [24]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene' for 'Deviance'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best All-Girl Three-Way Sex Scene' for 'The 8th Day'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best DVD Extras' for 'The 8th Day'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best Editing' for 'The 8th Day'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best High End All-Sex Release' for 'Deviance'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best On-Line Marketing Campaign, Individual Project' for 'The 8th Day'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best Original Song' for 'The Crack Pack'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best Packaging Innovation' for 'The 8th Day'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best Sex Comedy' for 'Not Airplane XXX: Flight Attendants'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best Special Effects' for 'The 8th Day'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best Video Feature' for 'The 8th Day'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Best Videography' for 'The 8th Day'[26]
  • 2010 AVN Award - 'Lifetime Achievement' for Adam & Eve[26]
  • 2010 XBIZ Award - 'Peoples Choice - Feature Movie of the Year' for 'The 8th Day' [27]
  • 2012 XBIZ Award - Retail Site of the Year [28]
  • 2012 XBIZ Award - 'Parody Release of the Year - Comedy' for Beverly Hillbillies XXX[28]
  • 2013 XBIZ Award - 'All-Sex Release of the Year' for D3viance[29]
  • 2013 XBIZ Award - 'Best Art Direction' for The Four[29]
  • 2013 XBIZ Award - 'Online Retailer-Full Range'[29]
  • 2014 AVN Award - Best Web Retail Store(AdamEve.com)[30]
  • 2014 XBIZ Award - Online Retailer of the Year - Full Range[31]
  • 2014 XBIZ Award - 'Parody Release of the Year' for Grease XXX: A Parody[31]
  • 2014 XBIZ Award - 'Best Music' for ''Grease XXX: A Parody[31]
  • 2015 XBIZ Award - 'All-Girl Release of the Year' for Alexis and Asa[32]
  • 2015 XBIZ Award - Retailer of the Year – Chain[32]
  • 2015 XBIZ Award - Online Retailer of the Year – Full Range[32]
  • 2016 XBIZ Award - Specialty Release of the Year for Amazing Sex Secrets: Better Orgasms[33]
  • 2016 XBIZ Award - Online Retailer of the Year – Full Range[33]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ 26.00 26.01 26.02 26.03 26.04 26.05 26.06 26.07 26.08 26.09 26.10 26.11 26.12 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ XBIZ Award Winners, XBIZ, February, 2011
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 XBIZ Award Winners, XBIZ, January, 2012
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 XBIZ Award Winners 2013, XBIZ, January, 2013
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 XBIZ Award Winners, XBIZ, January, 2015
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 XBIZ Award Winners, XBIZ, January, 2016

Further reading

  • Philip D. Harvey, The Government Vs. Erotica: The Siege of Adam and Eve, Prometheus Books, 2001, ISBN 978-1573928816.

External links

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