Aside from Earl, Boston University is recovering from another recent social networking hysteria. Earlier this month, “STILL A VIRGIN? FOR HELP CALL 888-743-4335” flooded Facebook and Twitter home-pages with constant status updates, Tweets, and mobile uploads.
When students first walked pass the posters most gasped with shock, laughed, and spewed a few expletive-filled remarks. Joseph Stucker first encountered the advertisement with his father. “Parents have a weary eye to it,” said the College of Communication senior. “I had to explain what it was to my dad when he saw it.”
Some students immediately huddled around cellphones and called the the pseudo-hotline to figure out the confusing advertisements. The call is greeted by the automated voice of Zack Pearlman who thanks you “for calling the Virgin Help Line because you or someone you know is still a virgin.” He then guides the caller to dial numbers 1 through 7 and questions “if you are a virgin, if your friend is a virgin and wants your help, if you don’t know if you are a virgin or not” and so on. Each line provides the caller with advice and jokes. Dan Stevens called the number with a group of friends. “I thought it was a little funny listening to the automated message, still I don’t think it has much of a place in public,” said the School of Management freshman. Although it may not be obvious, the ads are promoting a movie called “The Virginity Hit” in which three friends are on a mission to help one lose his virginity. Their journey is full of debauchery and raunchy humor. The movie, which will come out Sep. 24 in Boston, is filmed entirely with a portable camera and is a mix of reality and improvisation.
The digital hysteria has subsided, and now the infamous advertisements are amongst the familiar landmarks along Commonwealth Avenue. Nevertheless, BU students are still shocked by the in-your-face advertising campaign. College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences sophomore, Erika Temelkoff believes that the advertising campaign is “definitely effective, but they should have made it more known it’s a movie, not a perverted sign.”
The campaign is effective at catching pedestrians’ attention, however for some, not effective enough to be interested in seeing the film in theaters.
Regardless of his disinterest in seeing “The Virginity Hit,” Stucker acknowledges the humor the advertisement intended to portray. “I think it’s hysterical, but COM has completely ruined all ads for me. I always think: is that an effective ad?” The advertisement is effective at capturing the movie’s comedy, yet too provocative, causing polemic in some cities like San Diego and Miami where local leaders complained. Even on a college campus students are critical of the glaring STILL A VIRGIN?
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