It's not just advertising. I'd wager it happens many if not most places where there are contracts to be awarded or specific talent to be retained.
I'd imagine that the folks expressing disbelief are either inexperienced or so obviously 'square' that they're kept totally in the dark about such things.
I've seen one place where it was nearly a standard of 'culture fit'.
Note: I don't mean to condone this sort thing, just to bear witness to its prevalence.
I hope that I'm wrong, but I'm suspicious about what happens in there.
So, while a massage room might have windows, if it does they almost certainly would be covered completely when in use. So no windows isn't odd for a massage room.
It's legal where this party was (Germany), though that's not to say it doesn't happen in countries where it isn't legal.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/19/sex-party-rewar...
There's a certain high-level manager at a Valley startup. His team just launched. Everyone's high. Super-buzzed. Nice party. I have a little printed crib-sheet. John. 43. B-school. Wife left. Couldn't handle being a married single mom. Has visiting rights to his daughters, but doesn't have time to exercise them.
It's my job to go home with him. Make it all worth it. Usually these guys are into wife-play. As in, I play the role of their ex. Give them a taste of a still-sizzling marriage for a night. "New honeymoon vibes" is what my boss calls it.
Basically a tailored prostitute for guys who royally fucked up their personal life. Because that's how the modern startup views itself: a family surrogate, and I'm just another extension.
The manager answer the door and tells the police that the employee misunderstood, and he'd merely hired dancers for the night. That guy doesn't have a job anymore, and no one is going to get in trouble with the cops.
The only way to be sure that they're prostitutes is to actually have a transaction with one, which if you go to the police about, are more likely to get arrested for than anyone else, since you're the only proven john.
You can be fairly direct with later deniability, and there's an incredibly high cost to being the guy that called the cops.
Why do you think drug use at start-ups is so common, even at work sponsored events?
I've seen off-label pill use, marijuana, and cocaine at work related events (or just casually around the office) in at least 5 states, ranging between the West Coast, the East Coast, and Texas. The settings have ranged from small companies and start-ups (which have the most drug use openly) to large corporations like Microsoft (where people at least hid in the bathroom or private areas while doing lines). Marijuana is the most prevalent that I've seen, at 8 different states and between widely varying social groups.
I've even been offered ADHD meds not prescribed for me by senior people at the company I worked for at the time, to keep me working long hours and more focused at work. (Hey, if it works for college kids, it works for adults.)
The simple answer is that not everyone agrees with laws against vices, particularly things like prostitutes and drug use - and see no reason to follow them.
If you're not aware that things like this happen, you probably give off the impression that you'll try to get people arrested and seriously damage their lives because they take an intoxicant you were told was bad, rather than alcohol or any of the various other legal ones.
tl;dr: It's all over, and if you don't see it, people are actively hiding it for you because they don't trust you to make reasonable choices.
Where I work, most official work events are set up to allow employees to bring in their kids. I believe most people would not do lines in front of preteens. What people do in private is another thing entirely.
This has been my impression of work parties as well.
I think I omitted it, but the context to my reply was more of a late-evening-with-drinks party than a good-for-the-family party/event.