You can get just about anything at Target. From clothes, groceries and health care products to pet supplies, furniture and kids toys, a trip to this superstore can satisfy the needs of everyone on the list.
Speaking of satisfying the need, mom and dad can walk away from Target quite happy with some new “toys” of their own, thanks to Fifty Shades of Grey. Target is now selling merchandise in lieu of the popular book series and release of the film version, and the products are anything but G-rated.
One Twitter user Jacob B. visited a Target in Oklahoma to find “vibrating love rings” and other Fifty Shades sex merch displayed next to toothbrushes … for kids, reports Consumerist. Jacob B. tweeted out the photo on Jan. 16, saying, “@Target think you might want to move the vibrating cock rings a bit further from the children’s tooth brushes?”
Some of the other Fifty Shades-related products listed on Target’s website include massage oils and candles, bath oils, blindfolds and lubricant.
I mean, Fifty Shades has been labeled “mommy porn,” and moms do buy toothbrushes for their kids. One hell of a marketing tactic?
OK, OK. To be fair, the Fifty Shades “toys” aren’t supposed be positioned (sorry) in the store next to items for kids. A Target spokesperson, Molly Snyder, told a Raleigh, North Carolina news station, ABC11, that Target carries “a broad assortment of merchandise,” and that, “Our stores were directed to place them on a side cap in an adult health area of the store.”
WCPO Cincinnati reports that in the stores they went to, the products were placed “right where they should be: next to birth control and other ‘adult health’ products in the health section. It is not an aisle that would likely attract young children.”
WCPO Cincinnati also notes that Target says it “has sold contraceptives, lubricants and similar merchandise for years.”
It’s worth noting that Target isn’t the only store now selling Fifty Shades of Grey products. Fortune reports even Wal-Mart, The Vermont Teddy Bear Company and Sears sell items related to the book and film. Yet, that doesn’t mean coming across these items in the store with your kiddos wouldn’t prompt some questions.
So weigh in: Inappropriate products for Target shelves, or just another everyday item to be found at a superstore such as this?
Image courtesy Jacob B., Consumerist
