If Brookstone was one of the many of catalogs crowding your inbox this holiday season, you might have noticed that among the pages selling electronic wine openers, heated slippers, and remote control toy helicopters, the gadget chain's infamous selection of "personal massagers" has expanded to include a large selection of products from LELO, a brand of luxury vibrators designed specifically to be used as sex toys.
Of course, Brookstone has been retailing vibrato—infamously referred to as "personal massagers"—for decades after a large-scale and successful move in 1991 to focus on gaining more female customers.
The partnership with LELO was first announced in May 2011 through a carefully-worded press release ("pleasure objects" was used in lieu of "vibrators") issued by LELO. Unlike the range of other vibrators Brookstone sells, there's no pretending that LELO's products are for any other purpose that isn't entirely sexual.
For example, the Gigi has a dick head, while the Ina has a separate clit stimulator. To top it off, they're selling Luna Beads, which are inserted into the vagina for kegel exercises. You can't get much more frank than pussy-tightening equipment.
But while Brookstone remains a little prudish in its language (referring to lube as "personal moisturizer"), its become more candid in other respects. The LELO line is sold under its own, more direct subcategory of "intimate massagers," with the double-entendre laden descriptor:
Whoever said good things come in small packages really knew what she was talking about. For your special intimate massager, you want something vibrant enough to excite, yet small enough to be discreet-something that fits as easily in your purse as it does in the palm of your hand. So when it comes to intimate massagers, we think small means big. Who says size doesn't matter?