Lovehoney

The bold space: The unbannable ad

Challenging censorship with a cheeky, unbannable campaign.

Background

Thanks to strict guidelines and censorship of sexual content, Lovehoney is unable to put its products in advertising. It made us think: what do people do when they have to find a substitute for a sex toy? They get creative. So, to take on the important issue of ad restrictions making sexual pleasure a taboo, we had to get creative too.

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How we got there

We commissioned research and discovered that in the absence of sex toys, a bed-rattling 14% of people use a pillow to get off, 7% use an electric toothbrush, and 9% use a hairbrush. And that was just the tip of the …. you get the point. In a world where we can’t show people a better way thanks to advertising guidelines, we wanted to take on censorship (uh-hum, head on) and at the same time show what happens when sexual pleasure is a taboo.

The Unbannable Ad

We created outdoor ads that used playful copy alongside substitute items that we decided people would recognise as their own stand-ins. We shared pictures of the outdoor ads to media outlets, along with supporting research and data for consumer lifestyle press, and deployed Lovehoney’s in-house sexual health expert to offer their view and discuss the more serious dangers these possess.

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Boldspace-creative-brand-advertising-production-content-creation-social-digital-lovehoney-the-unbannable-ad-campaign-photography
Boldspace-creative-brand-advertising-production-content-creation-social-digital-lovehoney-the-unbannable-ad-campaign-photography
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Boldspace-creative-brand-advertising-production-content-creation-social-digital-lovehoney-the-unbannable-ad-campaign-photography

Media coverage

We secured 39 total pieces of coverage across key national, lifestyle, trade and consumer publications including the likes of Metro UK, Wales Online, PR Week, The Drum, Campaign and more.

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Impact & Results

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Pieces of coverage (including Campaign Magazine's ad of the week)

-m+
Total estimated reach

-k+
Social media engagements

'When facing the amount of advertising restrictions we do as a sexual wellness brand, you have to get really creative when it comes to PR, which is exactly what was achieved with the Not A Sex Toy campaign. The campaign simultaneously raised some important issues around censorship while nodding to Lovehoney’s more playful nature and tongue-in-cheek advertising. We’re really grateful to Boldspace for bringing this vision to us and assisting in bringing it to life alongside our creative team, and we’re really pleased with how it’s performed out in the wild!'

Nadia McCowan Hill

Global PR Lead

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