This Adult Toy Brand Turned Its Social Media Ban Into a Campaign Against Sexist Policies

Though the sexual wellness industry is predicted to reach a market volume of $52 billion by 2028, restrictive social media policies and related censorship continue to serve as serious roadblocks for individuals and communities legally providing these services. For wellness brand Womanizer, the issue hit close to home when Instagram shut down its account at the beginning of August. What began as a 24-hour suspension escalated to a two-week ban. And though the account was reinstated as of Aug. 17, Instagram still hasn't informed the brand of the specific transgression that triggered the shut-down. "We still don’t know what the problem was," Womanizer’s head of sexual empowerment, Johanna Rief, told Adweek. "You get this generic email naming potential reasons why it happened without saying why it really happened.” Women get sexualized and then we have to live with the consequences.Johanna Rief, head of sexual empowerment at Womanizer In response to this suspension and the lack of a comprehensive accountability process, Womanizer launched the "#UnmutePleasure" campaign to fight what the brand cites as "increasingly bizarre and puritanical rules" that actively harm sex-positive communities. Rallying the community The recent ban is evidence of an ongoing issue that the brand and its sister companies, We-Vibe and Arcwave, have faced over the years. In December 2019, Instagram shut down the We-Vibe account for 10 days. After gaining more attention in 2020, Womanizer began noticing that posts from 2019 and 2020 were disappearing from its social channels without explanation. Influencers who wanted to post about the brand couldn’t find its social handles after using the platform's search engine. Even a LinkedIn post referencing parent company WOW Tech's merger with Lovehoney was recently taken down. To combat the recent ban, the brand asked fans to submit general feedback to Instagram through its report feature. The first 200 people to submit "Please reactivate @Womanizerglobal on Instagram" to the platform were offered a free Womanizer Starlet 2 toy. The campaign also offered Facebook and Instagram employees a complimentary toy if they submit a short, anonymous testimonial of support for the #UnmutePleasure campaign. With the reinstatement of the Instagram account, Womanizer issued an affirmation that #UnmutePleasure will continue unabated. Citing a need to show solidarity with “smaller content creators who represent the same values as Womanizer,” the brand plans to continue its efforts through media releases featuring key influencers, sexperts and bloggers. A pleasurable, more equitable future The brand hopes that the initiative will draw necessary attention to Instagram and Twitter's ambiguous mandates. "Give us some real guidelines," Rief specified regarding the company's demands of Instagram and Facebook. "Because now they have super fluffy reasons, like nudity is not allowed, but it is for art reasons. Okay, so what are art reasons?" She also hopes it draws attention to the double standard against female sex workers that many of these policies carry: "It says explicitly that specifically female nipples are forbidden, and I’m like, whoever asked us if we want to be sexualized? Women get sexualized and then we have to live with the consequences.” As Womanizer continues to stand against potentially discriminatory social media practices, Rief hopes that future generations see more equitable platforms as the norm. "Social media could be a tool to create a more empowered society, for men and women and everyone.” Lovehoney Makes a Play for the US Market with a Campaign for All Pleasure Seekers