Influencers and Sex Toys - Promoting Pleasure or a Paycheque?

“Well I’ve got something special to keep you entertained this lockdown… #ad”

After a year of facemasks, hand sanitiser and the 2-metre rule, it’s no wonder 41% of women invested in a new sex toy during lockdown. Whether you’re looking for a new buzzy thing, sucky thing or something for you and your partner, there’s a sex toy just for you. And who better to tell you about it than your favourite influencer?

Influencers dominate our social media channels – everything from fashion to fragrance, curling irons to lingerie, lipstick to vibrators. Influencers can make anything appear desirable with a decent product, the right lighting and a cute little discount code. So when it comes to promoting sex toys, are influencers promoting female pleasure or after a paycheque?

The Reality Star Effect

With shows such as Love Island and Too Hot to Handle gracing our screens nightly; new reality star influencers are being born amongst the cute bikini’s, couples challenges and “can I pull you for a chat?” Although shows such as these can be criticised for their lack of diversity (as well as other issues), the conversation around women’s sexuality and pleasure is brought to the forefront of popular TV. Women openly discuss sex without shame or embarrassment, just like we do with our friends at home.

So do women such as Love Island’s Megan Barton-Hanson and Too Hot to Handle’s Francesca Farago make the perfect sex toy influencer?

Brands Lelo and Bellesa certainly think so; with both the lovely ladies regularly advertising products, posting promotional content, and hosting giveaways.

And with 59% of brands now budgeting for influencer marketing, platforms such as Instagram, Tik Tok and Youtube are now full of #ad and #gifted content.

What does this actually mean for us as consumers? Do we trust the recommendations of reality star influencers because of their openness about sex and sexuality, or are we simply buying into a clever marketing ploy?

Social media platforms place no filter on images of these women proudly holding sex toys. This is something we would not have seen until the sex positive movement became more popular around 2015 – less than 10 years ago. Perhaps the fact influencers can openly advertise vibrators and other female-centred toys is a statement of how far we’ve come in tackling the “taboo” of female pleasure. Because, just incase you didn’t know … women masturbate too.

But with mega-influencers and celebrities rumoured to be pocketing $10,000+ per Instagram post, it begs the question, are influencers looking to help us achieve the Big O or are they hoping for some 0’s themselves?

Mixing Business and Pleasure

Celebrity endorsed sex toys are often luxury products. The kind of products that your typical ‘Sort Price: Low to High’ gal might not scroll down to.

In October 2020, singer Lily Allen released her first sex toy in collaboration with Womanizer. The toy costs £89 and received a mixed reaction from fans. Some said they couldn’t wait to give it a whirl, others claimed the toy was “another blatant cash grab by another celebrity”, while another commented “love to watch”. Not so close to squashing that female pleasure taboo eh?

But it was Allen’s sex positive social media campaign that set her apart from the rest. The hashtag #IMasturbate began to circulate Instagram and Allen’s multiple interviews with magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Dazed Beauty showed her open and honest relationship with masturbation. Allen made us feel seen as she said all the things we didn’t realise we thought about self-pleasure all along. She tackled our internalised misogyny and reminded us that needing some extra help to orgasm is perfectly normal.

And if her toy does all the things she claims it will, then perhaps the higher price tag is worth it. If we can’t invest money into our own self-pleasure, then when can we? And after all, we support a girl out here making money for herself and if she’s knocking down taboo’s while she’s at it, then I’m all for it.

The Zoella Controversy (aka a 31-year-old woman discusses Sex Toys)

But not all influencers receive the same praise when it comes to sex toys. Zoe Sugg, or Zoella, was the sister we never had for many of us growing up. She taught us how to style our hair, do our make-up and had us wandering around with hamster print pencil cases.

Heaven forbid the 31-year-old (that’s right 31!) recommend sex toys to her following. Which is exactly what Zoe did as the UK entered its third lockdown early this year; the perfect time to make a sex toy purchase.

Zoe’s blog post entitled ‘The Best Sex Toys to Spice Up Your Life in 2021’ appeared to spark controversy leading to exam board AQA taking the website off their syllabus for discussing “unsuitable topics”. But if anyone had done their research, they would have noticed that Zoe and her team have spoken on everything from period sex to abortion wayyy before this ‘controversial’ article.

So why the outrage? Is it because Zoe’s previous teen-friendly persona means we forget that she’s a 31 year-old woman who wants to talk about sex and relationships with her similarly aged following. Zoe is continually infantilised by the media and therefore has been prevented from passing on sex education tips in the same way she was allowed to pass on make-up tips. The support from the wider media just isn’t the same when she tackles these taboo topics.

If Zoella is still the big sister we needed growing up, then as we age, our big sister should be the person we can go to with questions about sex and sex toys. And that’s exactly what Zoe and her team will continue to provide us the answers to. As she said, “women do masturbate and female pleasure is a thing (even if we’re shamed and ‘dropped’ for speaking about it)”.

So when it comes to influencers and sex toys, there’s no getting away from the fact money will change hands. [Even Zoe’s post had affiliated-ad links.] But is this the price to pay (no pun intended) to promote and normalise female pleasure in popular culture?

The truth is that influencers have the power and the platform to discuss topics such as these with a wide audience. They have the ability to grab attention from both their following and the wider media who love to comment on their actions, so perhaps they are best placed to bring taboo topics to the forefront. We just need to believe that they’re doing it for more than the cushy paycheque.

Content originally published on The Everyday's website (August 2021)