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My Opinion 11SEP2025
a month ago
It's been most of a year since the last time I posted a journal. No doubt you're all getting tired of looking at it; I know I am. So here's a letter I sent a couple of weeks ago, it might amuse you.
Candice O’Grady, Public Affairs & Communications
MasterCard
121 Bloor Street East, Unit #600
Toronto, Ontario,Canada
M4W 3M5
Dear Ms O’Grady:
As a loyal cardholder of many years, I wish to voice my concern about your recent decision to cease to provide payment services to vendors whose businesses have anything to do with sex. Do you not understand that these businesses contribute a significant portion of the world’s economy and that far more people purchase their services than are revolted by them? Statistica has estimated that the pornography industry alone was worth more than fourteen billion American dollars last year. Let me type it out for you so that you can appreciate it.
(a conservative estimate – an awful lot of zeroes)
…even for Mastercard, that’s not petty cash. Yet you, one of the world’s most important financial institutions, have decided not to participate in or derive profit from a fourteen billion dollar per year industry, just because of its “adult” nature.
Are you insane?
At best, I think, you must be listening to advice from people whose elevator does not go all the way to the top floor. Please look again at the dollar amount above. Does that look to you like the majority of people find adult entertainment objectionable? I would have thought that it must be one of the most popular ways in the world to spend money, right up there with coffee and chocolate. And it could be worth more if you helped it out instead of stood in its way.
Especially, it seems like a bad idea to me to encourage your own cardholders to take part in alternative methods of payment: Discover, Interac, bitcoin, Western Union, the smartphone transfer system used in parts of Africa, the convenience store payment system of Japan, bank drafts and postal money orders, or good, old cash. Even Paypal, which has always rejected the adult entertainment industry, does not police that policy as aggressively as you do and profits, if inadvertently.
Ms O’Grady, I urge you and your company to reconsider. This position is not serving you.
With Due Regards...
I haven't heard back from them yet. If I do, I'll post their reply.
Candice O’Grady, Public Affairs & Communications
MasterCard
121 Bloor Street East, Unit #600
Toronto, Ontario,Canada
M4W 3M5
Dear Ms O’Grady:
As a loyal cardholder of many years, I wish to voice my concern about your recent decision to cease to provide payment services to vendors whose businesses have anything to do with sex. Do you not understand that these businesses contribute a significant portion of the world’s economy and that far more people purchase their services than are revolted by them? Statistica has estimated that the pornography industry alone was worth more than fourteen billion American dollars last year. Let me type it out for you so that you can appreciate it.
$14,650,000,000.00 USD
(a conservative estimate – an awful lot of zeroes)
…even for Mastercard, that’s not petty cash. Yet you, one of the world’s most important financial institutions, have decided not to participate in or derive profit from a fourteen billion dollar per year industry, just because of its “adult” nature.
Are you insane?
At best, I think, you must be listening to advice from people whose elevator does not go all the way to the top floor. Please look again at the dollar amount above. Does that look to you like the majority of people find adult entertainment objectionable? I would have thought that it must be one of the most popular ways in the world to spend money, right up there with coffee and chocolate. And it could be worth more if you helped it out instead of stood in its way.
Especially, it seems like a bad idea to me to encourage your own cardholders to take part in alternative methods of payment: Discover, Interac, bitcoin, Western Union, the smartphone transfer system used in parts of Africa, the convenience store payment system of Japan, bank drafts and postal money orders, or good, old cash. Even Paypal, which has always rejected the adult entertainment industry, does not police that policy as aggressively as you do and profits, if inadvertently.
Ms O’Grady, I urge you and your company to reconsider. This position is not serving you.
With Due Regards...
I haven't heard back from them yet. If I do, I'll post their reply.
Could also be worth mentioning how Visa or PayPal handle it, and who knows, maybe getting a few more people on board (or even a small petition) could make the point stronger
But I'm a lightweight when it comes to this protest. There are creators and their allies who phone Visa and MasterCard once or twice a day to complain! The last tactic I heard of was to complain to their stockholder services department that their stock was doubtful because they were deliberately missing revenue! (Which is pretty ballsy if you don't hold any Visa or MasterCard stock.)