UK daytime TV breaks taboos with Lovehoney sex toy advert
The first TV commercial for a sex toy company has been approved for broadcast during daytime viewing hours.
Executives at the firm involved, Lovehoney, have hailed the development as a breakthrough in terms of the nations attitude to sex and pleasure.
However, the decision has triggered anger among family campaigners who argue it turns sex into a commodity.
The commercial, which carries the strapline Live a Sexier Life advertises the company rather than any specific products.
Racy? A still from the Lovehoney advert to be shown on television and used as a print ad in women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan
Nonetheless, parents may find it difficult to explain away the TV commercial and the internet shopping site that is being promoted.
Itfeatures a couple in a steamy embrace, kissing passionately for around 20 seconds. They then break away as they laugh and giggle and say to each other have a good day.
A recent study claimed that British and international sales of sex toys are set to match smartphones like the iPhone.
Thestudy, Women, Sex and Shopping, argued that sales of so-called 'pleasure goods' have escaped their sleazy history and are about to moveinto the mainstream.
The research was compiled by respected analysts Hewson Group and identified astrong desire among women to buy products designed to enhance their sexlives.
It stated: 'Over 60 per cent of women find the idea of buying a sex toy to be exciting.
'Women are motivated by far more basic instincts than are commonly ascribed to them. The erotic, the naughty, the forbidden and even perhaps the sli! ghtly so rdid all have their appeal.'
Lovehoney,who dub themselves 'sexual happiness people,' say they're keen for consumers to cast aside their prudishness and enjoy their sex lives
Some four million sex toys are said to be sold in the UK every year, while it estimates the number of women using them at 6.5 to 9.6million.
Thedecision by regulators to approve the Lovehoney commercial follows earlier controversy over the liberalisation of advertising rules.
Last year, industry codes were changed to allow condoms to be advertised before the 9pm watershed.
Anadvertisement by the Marie Stopes organisation, which carries out thousands of abortions each year, drew more complaints than any other last year 4,600, including those via petition.
Lovehoneydescribes itself as the sexual happiness people. A spokesman said: We sell more sex toys online than any other UK company.
We are now a 13.4 million business, fulfilling in excess of 10,000 orders every week.
'One in two marriages is failing and a way of dealing with that is to use sex toys. We should be encouraging it,' says expert Tracey Cox
An initial booking to show the commercial on ITV2 at 10.15am on October 3 during the programme The Real Wives of New York City fell through.
However, Lovehoney claims it will be shown during daytime on MTV, E4 and Living.
Director of the Family Education Trust, Norman Wells, condemned the decision, saying: Sex is an intimate expression of lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, not a commodity to be advertised and sold like washing powder or a mobile phone.
Sexual intimacy belongs in private and is cheapened when it is paraded on television and used as a tool to entice viewers to visit and make purchases fr! om an on line shop.
Many viewers will find this advert very distasteful, not because they are prudes who disapprove of sex, but because it divorces sex from its proper context and further adds to the sexualisation of society with all its damaging consequences.
The web retailer has a relationship with sex therapist Tracey Cox, who sells a range of products through the site.
She said the commercial was tame in comparison to the music videos which appear regularly on daytime TV.
If you look at the ad and compare it to any music video clip like Rihanna for example this is pre-school. What they get away with in music videos is crazy, she said.
One in two marriages is failing and a way of dealing with that is to use sex toys. We should be encouraging it.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE ADVERT? WATCH IN FULL HERE...
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