LONDON — The Valentine’s Day debut of “Fifty Shades of Grey” is providing a boon to an industry that rarely benefits from a big-brand film franchise: sex toys.
With the screen version of the erotic novel hitting theaters this weekend, purveyors of official merchandise are already experiencing a rush of demand in a market where only about 15 percent of products are branded.
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“You have this recognizable brand for the mass of the population with the amount of publicity that ‘Fifty Shades’ has gotten,” said Marty Brochstein, senior vice-president of industry relations at the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association. “It’s a natural thing that it would attract attention and that it would bring a new element to this product category.”
Sales in Britain’s sex-toy industry are due to rise 25 percent to about $77 million in the month leading up to Feb. 14 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to Lovehoney Ltd., Britain’s biggest online retailer of erotic merchandise.
Lovehoney, the owner of global rights to “Fifty Shades” pleasure products, had a record sales day last week, up 60 percent as it handled more than 9,000 orders.
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