Halfords bikes and scooters for age 8+ called 'x-rated'

[ffiona1]

Why choose this name for a range of kids' bikes/scooters?
Halfords x-rated range for kids
www.halfords.com/search?q=x+rated

Gross.

Meh. I can't really get worked up about this. The adult entertainment industry doesn't have the monopoly on the letter X. There's nothing inappropriate about the bikes themselves, so I expect they are thinking along the lines of Xtreme. I remember in the 90s when X files came out, no one assumed it was rude, just that the letter X is associated with mystery/being a bit out there. I think let's pick our battles .

EXtreame

It's been used that way for ever

Much as I love the X-files, I think there were a few porn take-offs of it called things like the “X-rated Files” 🤣

But yeah, I don’t think it’s a massive massive issue, but at the same time I don’t quite know why they would do it?

I do hate the trend of normalising terms that originated in the sex industry as everyday terms - eg. house porn, good porn, he’s a whore, pimp my ride (there’s a fish shop near me called Pimp My Fish which makes me 😬 a bit). I suppose you could see it as like that - it normalises something sex industry or porn related as just another part of everyday life.

Good porn? Food porn more like 😂🤦‍♀️

I don't see the issue. They're not X rated because they're covered in pornographic images. They're X because it sounds "cool" like extra, extreme, exciting...

Presumably more like X for X-games than X-rated.

Most likely to be the X Games- these were about when I were a lass.... skate and snowboarding, bmx etc
I actually think the name came from whatever the x in bmX is?

Ah 'X' posted with @jay55!

Extreme. X like X games

Bicycle Motor Cross i believe.

I suspect there’s also an element of

“what do kids like?”
”xbox?”
”yeah. Bung an x in there.”

This complaint has been raised to halfords before - e.g. on twitter in March They clearly don't care or don't have the money to change the name. Really poor response.