The Paris mayor’s office has called for a ban on a controversial website that invites hard-up students to finance their studies by dating a rich “daddy” or “mama”, accusing the platform of promoting prostitution outside university campuses, reports FRANCE 24.
The website has sparked outrage in cities across Europe by driving vans around university campuses with posters displaying messages such as “Hey students! Improve your lifestyle. Go out with a ‘sugar daddy’.”
One such poster, stuck on a trailer pulled by a car, appeared near the Sorbonne University in the French capital on Wednesday. It urged students to “Go out with a Sugar Daddy or a Sugar Mama” for “romance, passion and no student loans”.
The advertising stunt soon came under fire on social media, prompting a Paris official to file a complaint with the prosecutors’ office and internet watchdog Pharos calling for the website to be shut down.
Hénène Bidard, the deputy mayor in charge of fighting discrimination, said the website and advertising campaign constitute a form of “violence against women” and a “threat to public order”. She demanded an investigation “possibly leading to charges of pimping”.
Green Party councilors asked the government to step in and ban the website. In a letter to the ministers for higher education and gender equality, they said its establishment “reflected a failing of our society, namely the financial insecurity of a growing number of students.”
Student association FAGE said it had also lodged a criminal complaint about pimping, adding that the advertising campaign "is aimed at attracting vulnerable students... and encouraging them to perform sex acts with older people."