'Fight the New Love' anti-porn billboards pop up in Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- You may have noticed billboards around the Bay Area with a message that read, "Porn kills love, fight for love." It's a campaign launched here by an out-of-state group.

Giant letters on a bright red background stopped some on their tracks.

"What the heck?" asked Emily Galindo.

San Francisco resident CJ Redus added, "I mean, porn kills love? I don't think it kills love. I think you know, people do crazy things. You know, they want to have porn. I don't think it kills love. Love is real. So if you love somebody that's real."

One hundred of the billboards are up in Bay Area. But the man behind them is all the way in Salt Lake City. And in his mind, the porn crisis has reached its peak.

"A young boy was just picked up strangling his very first date," said Clay Olsen, co-founder of Fight the New Drug. "You know, his arms around her neck. And when he was asked what on earth he was doing he said, 'Well, isn't that what they want? Isn't that what they like?'"

Olsen spoke to ABC7 News on Skype. He says the group is not religiously affiliated, although he is Mormon. The organization argues porn is accessible like never before and it's affecting the way young men develop.

"One study out of the University of Arkansas indicated that 88 percent of the online material today, mainstream content today, was found to be physically violent and aggressive towards women," he said. "Now, who's consuming this material?"

Anti-porn rhetoric is hardly new. But this is a movement for the modern era.

The group has 21,000 followers on Twitter and more than 60,000 on Instagram; not to mention some celebrity endorsers.

Former football player and "Old Spice Guy" Terry Crews and Brooks Forester of ABC's The Bachelorette both donned the red shirt in support.

But the Bay Area adult entertainment industry says porn doesn't kill love

"I would say shame kills love, you know? Shame kills sex," said Kink.com spokesperson Michael Stabile.

Employees at Kink.com have noticed the signs

"Their science is bad," said Stabile. "In fact, if you look at the actual science done by Case Western and UCLA and places that aren't religiously backed, what you find is that people who watch porn are more likely to be feminists, people who watch porn are more likely to be responsive in bed."

Fight the New Drug is hopeful. Depending on how this Bay Area launch goes, they want these billboards all across the country. You can expect these billboards here through early November.