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Porn free: M&S's Porn Star Martini is getting a name change because it's too sexual

Goodbye Porn Star, hello Passion Star (apparently)

28 August 2019
There’s nothing better than picking up some tinnies from the supermarket on a hot day and heading to the park with friends, but now shoppers at M&S will no longer be able to pick up a classic Porn Star Martini. Why? Marks and Spencer has been told that they must change the name of its tinned Porn Star Martini after it was said that the name could “open the floodgates” to other suggestive names. A member of the public complained to trade group The Portman Group that it breached section 3.2d in which an alcoholic product should not “suggest any association with sexual activity or sexual success”. The complaint added: “If you continue to allow this, it will open the floodgates to others e.g. Sex on the Beach, Slippery Nipple, Sloe Comfortable Screw, Liquid Viagra etc.” The cocktail was launched in M&S in September last year and at the time faced backlash from feminist campaign group Object who accused the retailer of “normalising porn”. However, M&S said the term “porn star” was “intended as a reference to a category of person rather than a sexual activity”. It added that a Porn Star Martini was a recognised cocktail made with vanilla, vodka, and passion fruit juice. However, the assessment panel sided with the complaint saying that M&S’s version of the cocktail did not include any prosecco, which is usually considered a “principle ingredient”. The panel also said other businesses, such as BBC Good Food, had replaced “porn star” with “passion fruit” to make a “conscious effort” to avoid the name. So, what will the new name be after all that? Passion Star Martini, apparently.
  • Want to make your own cocktail? Check out our list of the best vodkas and get mixing

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