Erotica emporium relies more on its own stimulus packages.

• Position: Triangle

Things are so bad these days even the porn industry could use a helping hand. Right or left, it doesn't matter as long as it's holding lots of money. Two smut kings, Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, and Joe Francis, creator of the Girls Gone Wild videos, even asked Congress for $5 billion to make up for soft demand.

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At least one Tar Heel member of the industry is feeling the pinch. Sales at Hillsborough-based Adam & Eve fell 3.6% to $110 million in 2008. It's still the nation's largest mail-order company for erotic material, but it faces stiff challenges from the ailing economy and changing technology. When money is tight, people are more likely to put off purchases, just as they might wait for better times to buy a sexier pair of sunglasses. Why spring for Hot Cherry Pies 4 when you can make do with Hot Cherry Pies 3?

The company also must contend with Internet-spawned competitors such as Charlotte-based AEBN, a provider of adult videos on demand--not to mention the plethora of free porn online. "The glut of adult DVDs out there and the availability of free adult content on the Web have definitely affected us," spokeswoman Katy Zvolerin says.

In fact, DVDs are no...