Philanthropist, Family Man, Sex-Toy Tycoon | Hacker News Reader

Philanthropist, Family Man, Sex-Toy Tycoon

slate.com

58 pointsjseliger7 comments

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

The videos are quite funny as well. Well, not so funny per se, but good enough to get the job done. http://www.shopinprivate.com/fresh-balls.html

Oh this is just comedic gold: http://www.shopinprivate.com/dick-rambone-14-inch-dildo1.htm...

I'm finding myself gleefully searching for and clicking on the most ridiculous products just to read the description and see the videos. Very nice marketing.

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.

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.

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...

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

Reply on news.ycombinator.com