Leading UK-based adult retailer Ann Summers is facing accusatory finger pointing from the lawyers of electronics giant Apple Inc. this week concerning the appearance of an adult product and an accompanying commercial campaign that would appear to borrow rather heavily from the influence carved by Apple’s hugely popular iPod and iTunes brand.
Specifically, Ann Summers has released an iPod-compatible vibrating sex aid, the iGasm, which, while certainly questionable in terms of naming, is employing an advertising campaign that closely resembles the dancing silhouette commercials used so successfully by Apple’s iconic iPod. In the case of the iGasm, one ad image shows a white trailing lead from the iGasm clearly disappearing beneath the invisible underwear line of a provocatively silhouetted female, while another lead runs to a pair of head phones. It’s all VERY iPod.
“Load up your iPod with killa choons and take your appreciation of music to a whole new level,” exclaims the official iGasm product page on the Ann Summers Web site. “Go at it hard and fast with a pounding drum 'n' bass track or chill with an ambient classic,” the iGasm’s sales pitch teases.
The ‘sex toy’ in question is a small egg-shaped device that plugs into the iPod’s headphone connector and provides vibration at different strengths as dictated by the music playing through the host iPod. The iGasm costs around $60 USD and comes complete with “two silicone ticklers” along with a handy connection splitter that allows the user to enjoy actually listening to the iPod’s music while it also provides the necessary vibration dictation to other areas of the body.
A report in British tabloid newspaper The News of the World reveals that Apple is not best pleased about, what could be considered, a rather blatant ad-based cash-in on the success of the iPod. According to the daily paper, Apple’s legal representatives have issued a cease and desist order to Ann Summers, instructing the retailer to remove all iGasm adverts and posters from its high street stores and also its official Web site.
However, Jacqueline Gold, CEO of Ann Summers, is sticking fast to both the iGasm product and its contentious ad campaign, telling the News of the World that the ads won’t be pulled from circulation, but that she might send California-based Apple an iGasm of its own in order to “put a smile back on their faces!”
Apple has already dealt with a similar sex toy encroachment on its iPod advertising style, when UK-based LoveHoney Ltd unleashed its iBuzz vibrator alongside similar silhouette commercials. Following a cease and desist order, LoveHoney Ltd subsequently altered its advertising design.
Your Talkback on this Story