

Philanthropist, Family Man, Sex-Toy Tycoon - jseliger
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/07/sex_toys_and_the_recession_a_detroit_entrepreneur_who_succeeded_against.single.html

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fiatmoney
I may have a 12-year-old's sense of humour, but this is some damn fine copy
writing:

[http://www.shopinprivate.com/inexpensive-travel-
shaver.html](http://www.shopinprivate.com/inexpensive-travel-shaver.html)

~~~
rmc
I wonder if that's a genius bit of marketing for "embarassing" products? Lots
of things that people could be embarassed about buying/caring about (men
shaving/waxing, dildos, etc), these products can easily be bought as a joke,
as a gag. It's socially OK to get a "joke dildo" (just look at all the hen
party stuff). You can sell a real dildo as "joke" ( _wink wink_ ). Make the
whole purchase flow as if it's a joke and gag, and you short circuit people's
social embarassment and shame.

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waster
How many of you clicked right on over to shopinprivate.com upon reading this
article? C'mon... admit it!

I, for one, was impressed with the site. It's the right mix of frankness,
humour and, well, given the subject matter, titillation. Well done.

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egometry
The site has a quality to it that the design world would frown upon, a
roughness closer to tabloid design than Apple.

I wonder if this "plays better" with some demographics? Feels more honest and
less highfalutin?

I've been wondering about these sorts of design questions (e.g., is "bad"
design sometimes good depending on your audience) since 2007's SXSW where
there was a High Class vs. Low Class Design panel, but while the panel raised
some interesting questions, no answers were given and no data was cited...

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chiph
I was expecting this to be about Adam & Eve. -- Sex toys being sold from a
rural NC town, where they are the #1 employer.

