Why can’t I buy a sex toy without seeing naked people on the package? Or more correctly, individuals using said product? Is this the only way to sell these items? Could you imagine what sales would be like if feminine hygiene boxes depicted their usage? It’s an absurd notion but it gets right to the point: Is it necessary for the packaging to be this way?
In this day and age, most people share more with total strangers on social media than they share with their own spouse. Many choose to seek sexual pleasure by watching pornography and viewing naked bodies of total strangers rather than their own partners. It is therefore not surprising that companies feel a need to market sexual enhancement products with explicit images of models reaching their sexual climax due to no more than just the item being sold.
In an article on inc.com, Angus Loten reports on the history of the sex toy industry. "The bigger companies used to be run by men and marketed to men," he says. That meant naked women on the product packaging or graphic sex on the website."
The fact that these products are marketed almost exclusively in an explicit fashion, promoting their usage by one’s self, must be changed. Sexual pleasure is a cornerstone of a couple's relationship and if each partner is finding pleasure on his or her own, the couple may be headed for some major issues.
Couples should feel comfortable to use sex toys to enhance their love lives without having to bring images of complete strangers into their experience. It is time that manufacturers and marketing experts realize this. Let me suggest some possible alternatives for adult toy packaging: A happy fully dressed couple staring with love, or even lust, into each others eyes. How about an empty bedroom in a state that makes it obvious that the couple has just had a passionate experience. Or perhaps a romantic setting of a couple walking hand in hand along a sunset beach. These are all beautiful images that couples will no doubt relate to in a more positive way than the present images. When this switch occurs in the market, both sales and couples will have truly reached a climax.