The number of Americans injuring themselves with electronic toys and requiring emergency care have nearly doubled since 2007 according to data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The data reveals a spike in these incidents between 2012-2013, around the time of the much talked about release of erotic novel series Fifty Shades of Grey, as noted by author of The Washington Post’s Wonkblog, Christopher Ingraham.
Of these injuries, it is reported that 83% of them involved “foreign body removal”. 71% of the patients were treated and released, 25% requiring hospitalization.
‘The CPSC has tracked ER visits related to “massage devices and vibrators” going back to 1991′, writes Ingraham. ‘Until the early 2000s, there were a small number of these injuries each year — hence, the lighter shaded bars in the chart above represent low-confidence estimates.But around 2003, the number of these injuries surpassed the agency’s significance threshold, giving a greater degree of confidence in the numbers for the years after 2004.’
Analyzing the data provided by NEISS and graphs illustrating the demographic of who is getting injured, a few refused treatment. However, the upside is noted that in no cases were assistance from the fire department required or resulted in death.
According to the same statistics provided by the agency, 58% of the demographic were male and the median age was 44. Meanwhile, the women tend to be younger with the median age of 30. Brief descriptions of these incidents were also provided, but were due to the graphic detail, were unfit to print. It is suffice to say that the agency reports a wide range of ‘mishaps’ that one might expect from the wide gambit of sex toys available in today’s market.
It would appear that we can thank 50 Shades of Grey for the recent spike in sexual escapades gone wrong. Yes, correlation does not necessarily equal causation. However, one cannot ignore the enormous success of E.L. James’ novel, having sold tens of millions of books while being the #1 Best Selling Novel twenty weeks in a row. Not to mention, this weekend’s release of the wildly anticipated film version, that Washington Times is already reporting tickets sales are skyrocketing. The Washington Post reported that the market research firm IBIS World credits the novel for its estimates of the $608 million business in 2013 for the 7.5% year-over-year-growth.
Anne Semans who is the marketing director of Babeland, a New York and Seattle based sex toy boutique, was quoted in a ThinkProgress article who asked if Valentine’s Day can be equated to the Super Bowl in her industry.
‘That’s a great way to describe it,’ she said, particularly because the film’s opening weekend coincides with Valentine’s Day, which ‘is always our big season, as you would expect. When we heard they were planning to release the film the day before, we knew it would be like having a Super Bowl followed by the Academy Awards. It was going to be a double-whammy for us.’
You may have seen the Saturday Night Live Skit parodying Amazon a year ago. Perhaps it was more true than we would like to admit. For the sex toy industry and theaters this weekend, it’s sure to be 50 shades of green, with the brand marketing -and, perhaps- an uptick in sex toy ‘mishaps’ as well. “Mr. Grey is ready to see you now…”
