For the second year in a row, Pornhub's Christmas commercial is an unexpected tearjerker. No pun intended.
The ad presents porn as an antidote for holiday loneliness.
While watching porn might not be a universal cure-all, winter-related mood changes do exist. According to a 2014 analysis by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, it's a media myth that suicides spike during the holiday season. Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, has come under similar scrutiny for wrongly suggesting that the holidays cause depression. But the Dana Foundation, which supports neurological research, confirms that Christmas can be a "tipping point" for people already prone to anxiety and depression year-round.
“Holidays can be a time when the things that trigger depression — grief, disputes, transitions — are in abundance,” said Myrna Weissman, an epidemiologist and psychiatrist with the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.
In that case, the Pornhub ad is a welcome reminder that it's possible to have ourselves a merry little Christmas, even if we're rolling solo.
Pornhub also gets points in our book for including women in the mix, flipping the stereotypical script of porn and masturbation as guys-only entertainment.