While we know it’s probably never a good idea to buy a counterfeit bag or pair of sunglasses off the street, we tend to think of buying counterfeit accessories as a victimless crime. But you know what definitely isn’t a victimless crime? Buying a counterfeit sex toy, with the victim being your poor, defenseless genitals.
Fetish sex toy company CB-X wants consumers to know this. Faced with a wave of counterfeiting of their signature line of male chastity devices (a toy most often used in BDSM play), the company has released a video instructing customers how to tell the difference between counterfeit versions of their product and the real thing, accompanied by this harrowing warning: If you strap on one of these fakes, it could cost you a lot more than the few extra dollars you would’ve spent on the real thing.
(Your penis, FYI. That’s the thing it could cost you. Just in case that wasn’t clear.)
Via AVN:
CB-X has purchased and performed quality control tests of the counterfeit devices, pairing them against it’s [sic] own authentic devices. During the initial tests, the working pressure was kept to 150 PSI, which represents the typical pressure developed by the penis of a latched man during an attempted erection. During the testing, many of the counterfeit devices split apart—trapping and damaging the rubber test tube that was used inside the cage.
If you’re not quite following, let CB-X CEO Nikki Yates lay it down: “Had a man been wearing one of these counterfeit devices he could have received potentially severe injury to his penis caused by the sharp edges of the failed device.” Honestly, just reading that made my penis hurt and I don’t even have a penis.
The issue of sex toy counterfeiting is not unique to CB-X. As the Daily Dot previously reported, sex toy piracy is rampant on large retail websites like Amazon and eBay. Such piracy is particularly common in the BDSM sex toy market, which obviously poses a problem not just for manufacturers of such toys, but for consumers as well. As adult industry piracy expert Peter Phinney puts it: “Would you be interested in sticking electroshock cables up your ass or onto your privates if you knew they were made in China from substandard components and not UL listed for safety? You could save 70 percent buying a knockoff electrostim set up, but I’m not recommending you do.”
So let this be a lesson to you, seasoned bondage enthusiasts and aspiring kinksters alike: If you’d like to experiment with BDSM play, more power to you. But if you’re ever in the position of trying to decide between a product that’s more likely to crush your penis versus one that’s less likely to crush your penis, always, always opt for the latter.
H/T AVN | Photo via ribena_wrath/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)
