How to Hawk a Vibrator Without Mentioning It

Condom king Trojan managed to get its new vibrator commercial on TV—and not just during the wee hours—by doing one simple thing: not referring to the product as a vibrator. Apparently referring to it by its proper name (“Vibrating Tri-Phoria”) is OK. Trojan also agreed not to show the actual product: Instead, it shows multiple boxes, all of which vibrate jubilantly as the voiceover promises side effects including “screams of ecstasy, curled toes, a sudden glow, and intense waves of pleasure,” the New York Times reports.

“No matter how liberal you are, a little kid doesn’t need to hear the word ‘vibrator,’” says an MTV exec. Really? wonders Adrian Chen at Gawker: “We know kids are dumb, but do they not understand how nouns and verbs work? Can they not comprehend the fact that something which vibrates is, technically, a ‘vibrator’? We are headed down a slippery semantic slope, here. By this logic, Trojan could advertise a new double-headed dildo—the Duojoy—by marketing it as the ‘dual-penetrating Duojoy.’”
(More Trojan stories.)