It’s one of the most popular pornography sites in the world — and now it is making an offer to students that many would find hard to refuse.
Pornhub.com is offering a new $25,000 college scholarship for an American student, formally called the Pornhub Cares Scholarship.
Applicants for the scholarship must write a 1,000- to 1,500-word essay answering the following question: “How do you strive to make others happy?”
They also need to submit a two- to five-minute video that “elaborates on the good work that you do and anything else that you might want to say.”
The adult entertainment website currently has 78.9 billion reported online video views annually.
The motives behind the generous financial offering have already come under fire, with the scholarship being criticized as a potentially “deceptive marketing tactic.”
Dawn Hawkins, executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, told the Washington Post it was “an amazing and deceptive marketing tactic” aimed at poor students.
“A lot of younger people don’t realize the consequences and harm of pornography,” Hawkins said.
“These videos follow them the rest of their lives and affect their jobs and relationships in the future to have this out there. … It’s really unfortunate we’re forcing our kids to sell their bodies to get an education.”
Pornhub.com’s campaign website states the scholarship will go to someone with a GPA of 3.2 or higher, and they can be specializing in any major in college.
“Whether you are studying medicine, botany, paranormal psychology, or anything in between, the application is open to all fields of study,” the website said.
The website also goes further into its selection criteria.
Pornhub Vice President Corey Price said he accepted that the scholarship could be considered controversial.
He said that “if you’re against pornography and an anti-pornography crusader, this is probably not the scholarship for you.”
The scholarship has also got people talking on social media.