Girls Gone Wild: Vatican telecast spurred record sales

Girls Gone Wild: Vatican telecast spurred record sales

It might have been Good Friday, but this was bad. Real bad.

Softcore porn franchise Girls Gone Wild is claiming record sales after one of its ubiquitous basic cable ads accidentally aired during a live telecast of the Good Friday service at the Vatican.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a Girls Gone Wild commercial was broadcast throughout the Philadelphia market at 2 a.m. by Comcast. A spokesman for the cable company said the ad was aired inadvertently due to a test of the Emergency Alert System, during which the channel airs regular programming -- which in this case included an advertisement for "Girls Gone Wild’s Search for the Wildest Bar in America" DVD.

Now GGW CEO Joe Francis says he received a record spike in sales.

GGW“We may have tapped into a whole new market,” Francis said. “It seems that many of the same people interested in the Pope’s message are also interested in ours.”

According to the Inquirer, the commercial reached the network's entire local area, but only one person called to complain.

Francis claimed a "huge spike" in sales. With his ads running on networks like Comedy Central and MTV, however, I highly doubt he broke any records with a 2 a.m. telecast in one market, regardless of the programming. But it's not like Francis has much to lose, reputation wise, for stretching the truth at this point.

Francis said he was “happy to have shared an audience with the Pope."