Brands should learn to “think like a sex worker” in the way they behave, and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the multimillion pound porn industry, according to speakers at Advertising Week today. But they also need to recognize that content needs to be ethical and, ideally, paid-for.

In a video panel session from Advertising Week Europe titled “Pornrupted,” Mark Hassell, head of marketing and partners at sex worker-positive site Fanbaits.com, said brands have a lot to learn from sex workers. “They are the greatest marketers in the world. These people are micro influencers,” he added. “Go and talk to sex workers, find out how they promote themselves on social media.”

Hassell said there is plenty of opportunity for mainstream brands to advertise on porn industry sites, as their audience has a high disposable income, but they need to do their research and be "clever" about targeting. “One of the issues is that advertisers go to ad networking places and they don't know where their content will appear. If you are a mainstream brand, do your research and make sure you know what brands you are going to be placed alongside.”

Kate Isaacs, porn industry activist and founder of the #NotYourPorn campaign that advocates against revenge porn, warned that there is a "massive issue" in the porn industry of content that is being used that is non-consensual, especially on the big free-to-use "tube" sites such as PornHub. “There is no consent process in place to ensure that people in the videos have consented to being in them,” she said.

Isaacs believes that the advertising industry should be looking to place ads on more “ethical” and "morally sound" paid-for sites and ensure they are working with content that is “pre-checked.” “It’s a fantastic media opportunity for brands,” she added. “But go to these smaller companies and you are more likely to get what you want.”

Erotic filmmaker Jennifer Lyon Bell of Blue Artichoke Films, who is also a former marketing strategist, said that in order to be ethical her company adheres to what she calls the “Six Cs”: consent, compensation, comfort, condoms, contrast (diversity) and being “conceptually” attractive to the cast and crew. “You heard a lot about this in the Black Lives Matter movement, there were people of color who performed and were not told the titles that their work would be put under, and it was highly offensive to them.”

Bell added that brands can also learn from the porn industry when they are doing work that portrays sexuality or relationships. “Talk to sex workers, talk to filmmakers who are used to making every frame count and don’t just phone it in.”