Everyone knows Adam & Eve. From their legendary sex toy store, to hit series like Amateur Angels and Nina Hartley’s Guide To, and even their late-night radio and television ads, they’re literally everywhere. The nation’s largest marketer of adult products was founded by Phil Harvey in 1971 as part of his master’s thesis in Family Planning at UNC, and since then the company has been on a roll. At the time, Adam & Eve was the first mail-order contraceptive business in America and being first would become a major theme for them throughout the years.
In the mid-1980s the Reagan administration made it part of their agenda to crack down on the adult industry, which happened to be growing at a rapid pace and garnering lots of attention across the country. Determined to start at the top and make a splash, the Justice Department, with the help of Alamance County, North Carolina, labeled Phil the kingpin of obscenity distribution and on May 29, 1986 raided Adam & Eve headquarters. What separates Phil, Adam & Eve, and parent company PHE, Inc., apart from many other adult companies and studios is their reputation for honesty, loyalty, and consistently standing up for what they believe. Those foundational values began with the way Phil handled and fought back against the DOJ in the early years, and not only did it establish Adam & Eve as a legally operating adult enterprise, it also helped paint the industry in a positive light that ultimately led to a more tolerant and accepting atmosphere for it to thrive in. That fight that took years of litigation and negotiation directly contributed to altering the way the Justice Department sought out and pursued obscenity cases, paving the way for today’s production companies and sex toy stores.
As if laying the perfect foundation model for the perfect business wasn’t enough, Phil took his passion for sex education, his knowledge from years of success, and proceeds from Adam & Eve to develop and support DKT International, which sells affordable contraceptives, provides family planning services, and HIV/AIDS prevention programs in countries all over the world. In the 1970s he also helped launch Population Services International, which still functions as a family planning organization in more than 60 countries including Bangladesh and Kenya, two early partners and recipients of the foundation. Adam & Eve as it continues to thrive today is still a model of the sex education and social awareness that Phil Harvey brings to every project he’s involved in.
What’s to be loved most about Adam & Eve is their consistency in producing products that are equally entertaining and informative to their consumers (they could teach a college-level course on marketing that I can’t even begin to delve into). Scroll through their studio page and you can’t help but notice their Nina Hartley’s Guide To series, a timeless educational collection that can help you with everything from open relationships, younger men/older women sex, and of course sex toys, another area of expertise for the industry-leading company. More recently they’ve struck gold with the Baumgartners series. First introduced to us in 2015 with Babysitting The Baumgartners, Kay Brandt has developed a series that builds from the classic babysitter fantasy and explores themes like lesbianism, voyeurism, and older younger power plays to name a few. In the latest edition, Adventures With The Baumgartners, we’re taken on a journey of partner swapping and couple seduction mixed with roommate sex and maintaining multiple sex buddies. Sounds like an absolute joy if you ask me!
With a catalogue including sex toys, lingerie, adult films, contraceptives, lubricants, and a hobby of establishing and non-profit social marketing organizations to promote sexual education, Adam & Eve has something for everyone. They’re the blueprint for companies in all fields, and with their reputation for producing hit after hit they don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Here at HotMovies, we can’t imagine that’d be anything but a good thing! Check them out and let us know what you think.
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