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See all MNHQ comments on this thread

MNHQ

Let's talk about sex toys (well, ads for them on Mumsnet), please

486 replies

HelenMumsnet · 07/10/2011 11:51

Hello.

We'd like your opinions, please, on Mumsnet taking ads for stores/sites that sell sex toys.

We accepted a campaign for one site like this earlier in the week - and then removed it after receiving a fair number of complaints.

So, what we need to know now is...

Do you mind ads for stores/sites that sell sex toys - generally speaking?

Does it matter which stores/sites these are? And what kind of stuff they're selling?

And, if you wouldn't run a mile from these kinds of ads, would you be happy to see them all over Mumsnet (with the obvious exception of our more sensitive topics such as Bereavement, Special Needs, Relationships, Miscarriage etc)? Or would you prefer them only to be in Chat?

Do please post and let us know your thoughts.

Thanks MNHQ

OP posts:
Uppity · 08/10/2011 19:24

Exactly Alys - it's the one perspective thing isn't it.

AlysWorld · 08/10/2011 19:28

Exactly Uppity and that was what was so very upsetting when the ad did appear. I have seen numerous threads where people chat about lurvehoney and various sexual activities. Not a problem, as there's a chance to discuss. Just an ad thrown in your face with no warning, not fine.

ElderberrySyrup · 08/10/2011 19:44

now this is the kind of discussion about sex toys on Mumsnet that I like. Apologies for frivolity on serious thread, but it is v funny.

PenguinsAreThePoint · 08/10/2011 19:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MellowBirds · 08/10/2011 22:31

Using MN on my phone, the banner ads just seem to come up above the mumsnet logo. Your brand is just going to look so blinking stupid when the first thing you see is a silhouette of a baby pointing to a sex product ad.

I worry about the MN brand. So far, for me, it has been one of those brilliant brands that I can forgive when it makes mistakes, but I couldn't forgive this one.

Jux · 08/10/2011 22:38

What PenguinsArethePoint said.

QuintessentialDead · 08/10/2011 23:20

No. It is not right.

Yes we are grown ups, yes we have sex. It does not mean I want to experiment with a toy that look like a washing up brush. Neither do I want ads for them thrown in my face.

However, it means I most likely have young children around me, and I would want to be able to leave my pc to attend to said child, even if he is 9 and knows it all, without having to worry about the ads that might show up on my screen in my absence.

Naturally I dont read sensitive threads when they are around, I leave that till after their bedtime. But I have no control over what ads are showing.

This means I dont want adds for alcohol, or guns, or EMINEMS latest album either.....

Just as I dont go to Youtuve to check out Justin Timberlakes "motherlover" when the kids are around.

blackcurrants · 09/10/2011 00:15

I like sex. Lots. And even sometimes have sex, with my DH who is ever so fit and really fancies me.

[preens smugly]

That disclaimer aside, NO, MNHQ, please no. Because I browse MN at work sometimes during lunch, and that banner ad could block my access.. forever! How would I cope? And because I browse MN at home sometimes and leave the PC on and I don't want DS mashing the keyboard and opening the site, and when I browse on my tablet thingy on the train the ads can easily be opened by my sausagefingers accident. Which would give the poor person sitting next to me quite a shock, I imagine.

If I want sex toys, I will seek them out, I know where to look. Frankly I don't care if someone needs a butt plug, a plastic arsehole, five live weasels and a photo of Rick Astley to get them groovin' (as long as the weasels are bought dinner and treated respectful, like) but I really would think a lot less of MN if they advertised that stuff.

I'm not a prude, heck, most parents have had sex at least once or twice, right? I'm just classy, really. I wouldn't take my toddler running through the red light district on holiday, and for the same reason I wouldn't ask weaning, relationship, or even sex-based questions on MN under the banner of "get yer plastic arsehole here."

Not for me. Not for me at all.

AnyCorpseFucker · 09/10/2011 00:38

< likes > blackcurrant's post

gallicgirl · 09/10/2011 00:40

I never even noticed the site had ads until a thread talked about it. Personally I wouldn't mind because I'm oblivious but I think the offence such ads might cause is more damaging than the lack of ads. No one is sat at home thinking how much better their life would be if they only knew where to buy a sex toy.

JeremyVile · 09/10/2011 00:52

< loves > Blackcurrant's post.

AnyCorpseFucker · 09/10/2011 01:32

< adores > blackcurrants post

< competitive >

JeremyVile · 09/10/2011 02:05

< retires to a candle-lit room with Hully's glass zigzag and > Blackcurrant's post.

maamalady · 09/10/2011 07:43

Blackcurrant is spot on. I'm not a prude at all (as one of the resident posters in the TSA threads in Adult Fiction, you can probably tell), but sex shop adverts on MN is not really my cup of tea. If I was only using the site at home, it would be ok, but I use it at work and on public transport. It would be a shame to have to stop mumsnetting except in the evening because of advertising rather than content. I'd stick to family-friendly advertising if I were you.

BoffinMum · 09/10/2011 09:24

If you put sex toy ads on MN I will stop visiting the site. I hate the idea. I even hate having branches of Anne Summers on the high street. It's all so ... aggressive.

AnyCorpseFucker · 09/10/2011 10:41

Yes, BM, it is

it is aggressive

I talk about sex when it is appropriate, I don't like to have it shoved in my face (as it were)

it's like someone getting right up into your face and screaming "think about sex now "

HoneyMomster · 09/10/2011 10:58

it's cos you are a prudish hysterical killjoy, AF, you slag

See what I did there? Got the virgin-whore dichotomy into one barely literate, smugly stupid post.

Uppity · 09/10/2011 11:01

I think there might be some kind of prize for that, HM

HoneyMomster · 09/10/2011 11:03

hope it's a glass zigzag

Uppity · 09/10/2011 11:13

Might be. Might be a plastic arsehole if you're lucky.

AnyCorpseFucker · 09/10/2011 11:39

HM, I take me hat off to ya

Hullygully · 09/10/2011 11:57
MollyintheMoon · 09/10/2011 13:34

It's a big no from me. It's Sunday afternoon, I've had MN open on the computer most of the day. My DC know to open another tab if they want to use the computer, but tbh I would have to stop using the site during the day if you allow these companies to advertise.

A crazy idea on a parenting website imo.

BecauseImWorthIt · 09/10/2011 13:43

I still can't stop thinking about that blasted speculum and why on earth you would want to ratchet yourself open to the outside wide world.

AnyCorpseFucker · 09/10/2011 14:21

errk