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This Porn Star's Startling Ad for a Sex Show Accuses Spain of the Ultimate Hypocrisies

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A striking new ad from Spain is making waves there, accusing the nation's culture of being completely disingenuous—and using an adult film star as its righteous messenger. 

"My name is Amarna Miller," she says, staring into the camera, as she introduces herself in the commercial's first shot. "I'm a porn actress, and was born in a hypocritical country, where the same people calling me a whore jerk off to my videos." 

It's a brutally effective opening salvo, and the 90-second commercial—promoting the 2016 Salon Erótico de Barcelona Apricots, a live sex show staged in that city—doesn't let up, indicting bullfighters, politicians, financiers, priests and all other forms of forked-tongued bad actors. 

Spain is "a country that loves life, but allows killing in the name of art," continues Miller's voiceover, as the camera cuts to a man holding a baby, before zooming out to reveal he's a blood-soaked matador. "A country outraged at corruption that still votes for thieves. A country that saves the same banks that are evicting thousands of families." 



The ad, created by agency Vimema, has drawn almost 2.5 million views since being posted Wednesday, as well as support from national political figures Pablo Iglesisas and Inigo Errejón—leaders of the major left-wing party Podemos, which sprung up as a youth-fueled, anti-austerity alternative to establishment options in 2014, while Spain grappled with the effects of financial recession and the European debt crisis.

Now, even as the country's economy has shown steady signs of recovery over the past two years, unemployment remains paradoxically high, its GDP has not reached pre-2008 levels, and its failure to elect a fully fledged government is threatening to slow further gains.

Spanish-language publication El Pais has more background on Miller's profile in the country, her arguments for tolerance of her profession, and different reactions to the new spot. The general backdrop makes Miller's fire-and-brimstone seem all the more morally justifiable—even if it is also deliberately provocative, or salaciously trollish.

The visuals in the clip are utterly gorgeous, often built on imagery mocking the country's Catholic tradition—incredibly efficient images for an argument about evildoing wrapped in a veil of holiness. Even its title, "Patria," or "homeland," is dripping with snark. The word also means "heaven" in Latin. The remaining copy, powerfully written and roughly translated below, hits on similar themes, each shot paired with its own rich picture.

In other words, as offensive as the ad's approach may be to some, especially given the product it's selling, it's hard not to credit it for the execution alone. And that in turn makes it harder not to root for the underdogs.

• It's "a country that says it is secular, while celebrating the Virgin Mary," as a cop licks the foot of a woman posing as a statue of the Madonna
• "That treats emigrants as heroes, and immigrants like trash," as a white Spanish doctor pulls off a mask to reveal a black doctor in torn jeans
• "A country where those who are supposed to be moral guardians can become the most dangerous," as a priest lifts his robe to reveal his briefs and do a terrifying jig
• "Where prostitution is still not legal, but every year the number of clients grows," as trio of men paw at a sex worker
• "A country that believes in openness and tolerance, where a referee receives death threats for being gay," as a soccer official stands, his private parts wrapped in chains

The camera returns to Miller, this time framed by the full cast in a recreation of The Last Supper. "Yes, we live in a disgustingly hypocritical country," she says. "But some of us do not give up." 


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