Some Advice Please...

[TropixxxStudios]

My momma always said you are judged by the company you keep...

Son, you are judged by the company you keep.

So imagine my shock when I stumbled upon this nugget in a Chicago Newspaper Today while doing a search about a new company I am now associated with by a mutual third partner...

Christopher Brown, assistant commissioner for HIV/AIDS/STD programs at Chicago Department of Public Health, said health officials acted after uncovering “credible” evidence that models at FlavaWorks.com, which also operated CocoBoyz Dorm Room online, were HIV-positive, were engaging in unsafe sex practices and were spreading HIV, syphilis and gonorrhea through contact with individuals outside the business.

Brown said CDPH’s initial involvement came in late December after HIV service providers called CDPH to express “concerns that some of their clients could be seen on the website engaging in unsafe sex.”

“We also became aware of cases of HIV linked to some of the models,” Brown said.

While the models are Black and Latino, the owner of the company, Phillip Bleicher, is White.

Brown said the business owner had been “less than cooperative” with city officials’ efforts to stop the spread of HIV and other diseases and get CocoBoyz models in for counseling, treatment and testing.
“Our main concern was the dorm,” Brown said. “Our goal is to immediately look at the models, screen them and address their needs.”

“We had evidence and reports from what I would consider credible sources that there was HIV and STDs among the models at CocoBoyz dorm room, and unsafe sex could be viewed right there on the website,” Brown said.

Equally distressing are reports centering around the conditions under which the young men worked. Most of them are reportedly at-risk youths, runaways, homeless and easily manipulated.

There are also allegations that the business used unusual labor contracts with its models, which, according to one source, “at least bordered on illegal servitude.” The 30-day contracts allegedly required the models to perform a certain number of sexual acts in exchange for a stipend. But, when the models tried to collect the stipends, they were told they were being charged for such things as food and bed linens, leaving them, in some cases, in debt rather than collecting money. They were then pressured to sign new contracts.

So...my question is this...

I have an exclusive distribution deal with a smaller distribution company that only handles about 5 studios. Now that they have added Flavaworks as one of their prominant feature lines, I am begining to have second doubts about thier sense of business ethics and judgement.

Any advice would be appreciated...

Anyone know of a distributor that wants a male spanking studio?

[basschick]

just because there are allegations doesn't make it so. why not ask for i.d.s - because you can't be a runaway if you're over 18 - and HIV test results for the models. now, granted that they have no real reason to give you those things but it's still worth asking.

and remember that those allegations could come from models, ex boyfriends, disgruntled neighbors. and let's not forget christians, conservatives or comeptitors. or the claims could be true, but i've noticed that when it comes to allegations about the adult industry, things i read in the news are true less than half the time.

[gaybucks_chip]

The FlavaWorks controversy was discussed here (and elsewhere) some months ago. I seem to remember that there were several sources that seemed to corroborate what was being said... but in the world of gay gossip, who knows how reliable any of that information is.

Honestly, I don't think that being with a distributor who also distributes another company that's come under this sort of scrutiny is really a big problem. Pacific Sun didn't lose any studios when the Cobra shit happened... but then again, it was Pac Sun who pulled the titles, not Cobra.

If it really makes you nervous, you might talk to Chris at Pornteam.com and also AVNS. As far as I know, they are the only two distributors taking new studios at the moment.

[TropixxxStudios]

If it really makes you nervous, you might talk to Chris at Pornteam.com and also AVNS. As far as I know, they are the only two distributors taking new studios at the moment.

I am not so sure it makes me 'nervous' per say...but don't you feel that we are judged by whom we chose to do business with? When it is my time to quit the business, I would like people to say "Hey, there goes a stand up guy, who put ethics before profits."

I think far too many times people in this industry opt for the fast buck, rather than the right thing to do. I have tried to stay clear of those people as long as I could...and that could account for our slow (but steady) growth.

I imagine though you eventually reach a certain size (which we are now at) where you must have contacts with other studios, distributors, agents, etc...and I know that there is no way that I can control what others do (nor would I try to.) My point I was trying to make (not well obviously) was that If you were to look at us as a young studio, and try to decide if you wanted to do business with us...would our choice of associations play a role in your choice to work with us or not?

Am I being to naive? Or am I correct to assume that if you want people to know you are a stand up guy, you need to only work with other stand up people.

[gaybucks_chip]

I totally see your point, but the problem is that it is nearly impossible to only do business with people who share your ideals, particularly with regard to distributors, retailers and the like. This distributor might be distributing FlavaWorks, but who's to say that another distributor isn't doing something else unsavory... supporting a studio that lies to its models, or a studio that rips off others in the industry, or whatever it may be.

Look how much difficulty Chi Chi has had with her anti-barebacking stance? She ended up starting her own distributor because she couldn't find one that shared her beliefs (at least, not enough to reject companies that didn't share them).

I guess I would say look at your distributor in the overall picture. Is FlavaWorks the only (alleged) "bad apple" in the group? If so, and if they have a bunch of other good studios, I probalby wouldn't sweat it. Maybe have a conversation with them about your concerns and see how it goes.

I would love to have the opportunity to only do business with companies that completely share all of our beliefs, but the reality is, in this business, we are all a bunch of mavericks and so it's difficult to get agreement on much of anything. For the most part, I agree with and enjoy the interactions with nearly all of the companies we work with, and I guess I'd say if you like the distributor and are willing to put aside the one studio it works with whose policies you don't agree with, I don't think it will influence people's perception of your company in any meaningful way.

[TropixxxStudios]

Thanks for the input. I think maybe I am over-reacting a bit...

A good night sleep might put it into perspective.

[basschick]

if you're concerned about the reputation of Flavaworks, why not ask some webmasters who have dealt with them?

and posting this article, whether it is true or not, is probably going to change that reputation a little as more people read posts here than post and in a month a lot of people won't remember everything - just that they read something bad about Flavaworks. this post might actually cause part of the problem you are concerned about.

[TropixxxStudios]

if you're concerned about the reputation of Flavaworks, why not ask some webmasters who have dealt with them?

and posting this article, whether it is true or not, is probably going to change that reputation a little as more people read posts here than post and in a month a lot of people won't remember everything - just that they read something bad about Flavaworks. this post might actually cause part of the problem you are concerned about.

I am not concerned at all about the reputation of Flavaworks. I am concerned about what our reputation would be if we were seen to be in any sort of association with them...even through something as simple as a distributor.

Chip said it best:

I would love to have the opportunity to only do business with companies that completely share all of our beliefs, but the reality is, in this business, we are all a bunch of mavericks and so it's difficult to get agreement on much of anything. For the most part, I agree with and enjoy the interactions with nearly all of the companies we work with, and I guess I'd say if you like the distributor and are willing to put aside the one studio it works with whose policies you don't agree with, I don't think it will influence people's perception of your company in any meaningful way.

So that is how I have decided to deal with it.

[basschick]

you seem to be concerned with how their reputation will color yours. you wouldn't have much to worry about if you believed that everyone thought very highly of them...

chip's always full of great advice - glad he was able to help you

[Squirt]

Sleep with dogs get fleas.

If the small distributor you work with is investigated because of its dealings with this company it's entirely possible you'll have to go through that process as well, not to mention have a distributor that is busy fending off lawsuits instead of distributing content you've worked hard to create.

You are right to feel trepidation in this situation and you are right to re examine your business relationships. You're Mum was right too. Follow your gut.

[Flavaworks]

The accusations made by the Chicago Department of Health and their assistant commissioner Christopher Brown are false. These are malicious lies spread by jealous competitors and disgruntled former models. When this "story" broke, we consulted with our attorney, J.D. Obenberger about suing the city for defamation and libel. Unfortunately, it would have been a losing battle because of the City of Chicago's Health Code denies health officials from being personally sued.

"While the models are Black and Latino, the owner of the company, Phillip Bleicher, is White. "

Sure our owner is White and we have several adult Black and Latin sites, but that has never been an issue with our staff or models before the city and Mr. Brown brought it up. Over the last 18 months the city has been cracking down on adult businesses and bars.

Besides, the city did not shut down the CocoDorm contrary to what they claim. It was shut down by mother nature on March 31st when the facade of the building housing the CocoDorm and a car wash came down due to high winds. Here are some news articles which point to this incident in Chicago.

blogs.trb.com/news/weather/weblog/wgnweather/2006/03/

www crh.noaa.gov/lot/?n=currents_winter2006


“We had evidence and reports from what I would consider credible sources that there was HIV and STDs among the models at CocoBoyz dorm room, and unsafe sex could be viewed right there on the website,” Brown said.

CocoDorm would fly a model into Chicago for a 30 day stay at the CocoDorm house, a live 24/7 cam house. Through a partnership with a non-profit organization, Test-Positive Aware Network (TPAN), the new models would be tested for STDs. Those that tested positive would do a solo shoot then sent home and not allowed to participate in group scenes. Unfortunately for us, which TPAN had not informed us of, if a new model, who had not performed with the company yet tested positive, TPAN shared the results with the city because the city was funding them. So, every time a new model came and tested positive for an STD, it was a strike against us.

"Equally distressing are reports centering around the conditions under which the young men worked. Most of them are reportedly at-risk youths, runaways, homeless and easily manipulated. "

For the city to say that the dorm was seeking out at-risk and homeless youth is ridiculous. These are adults over the age of 18 from around the country, who visited the website, completed a model application online, submitted photos and ID picture online and then their application was posted on the site for the members to vote whether they should be hired or not. As for unsafe sex, since this was a live 24/7 cam house, sure some boys would have unsafe sex, but this was beyond our control, we provided counseling and plenty of condoms throughout the dorm house.

"But, when the models tried to collect the stipends, they were told they were being charged for such things as food and bed linens, leaving them, in some cases, in debt rather than collecting money. They were then pressured to sign new contracts."

This is absolutely false, CocoDorm supplies all food, housing, bed linens and entertainment (xbox, playstation, DVD player, etc.) If this were true, after they leave, why do so many models request to come back? This is just another silly accusation by a disgruntled model. Remember, the members vote models in, and they vote models out, some models do not stay the full 30 days.

Instead of being praised for providing testing and counseling black gay men to know their status, we were blasted because some boys tested positive before they became a model.

We invite anyone with questions about this issue to ask us, or better yet, check out the website, read the model blogs, the message boards and customer comments. We have thousands of loyal members who have been with us for over three years and are our #1 supporters. Email us if you want a complimentary password to see for yourselves.

[TropixxxStudios]

Thanks for presenting your side of the issue. I guess one thing I forgot is that there is always two sides to every story. I apologise if my re-posting of the article from the Chicago Free Press has caused more problems for you.

However, that being said, I hope you can understand why I was so shocked to find out your titles had been picked up by my distrubutor once I saw this article.

Granted, there is no way that I as a small webmaster can verify any of the allegations against you, or even your defense. Both sides of the story seem plausable to me, and I can see how both sides of them could be true...or lies.

I in no way meant to start any drama or problems, and looking back, I should have posted my question in more general terms, rather than pointing to the specific article and studio in question.

I hope you can accept my apology.

- Michael

[Flavaworks]

No problem. If you have any other questions, please ask.