This is not the way to sell sex toys to men

By Fusion Staff  |  November 15, 2015 | 7:08pm
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There’s nothing wrong with promoting a sex toy that allows men to masturbate without getting their hands dirty. But when a company tries to sell said toy through fat-shaming and offensive stereotypes—then yeah, it’s a problem.

The sex toy company Whizworx has recently been pushing a product called FiFi, which is essentially a masturbator that uses disposable sleeves. The idea is that using your hand and lubricant can lead to a lot of unnecessary mess, and what modern gentleman has time for that? The product itself—which sells for $15.95, plus a box of 20 disposal sleeves for $17.95—is a bargain, if wadded up tissues bum you out.

But some of the promotional tweets and Instagrams the company has been posting have riled sex bloggers—and for good reason. Here are some of the ads:

And this one with the line, “Women complain about balancing a career and home life. They should try balancing a laptop while jacking off!”

And a racist one for good measure:

Sex bloggers were quick to attack the tweets:

The company has since removed some of these posts, and with a Twitter following of around 50, it looks like maybe they’re not reaching that many people anyway—but the damage has been done. I reached out to WhizWorks for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.

It’s not a good look when a product designed to make solo sex better tries to dissuade its client base from engaging in sex with other humans. Because here’s the deal—if this type of advertising resonates for you, stock up on these. You’re gonna need a lot of them.

Cleo Stiller is a digital producer covering the intersections of sex, tech and culture. Words to live by: get your money’s worth.

 
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