It is not only on the shelves of sex shops that you can now find dildos and vibrators. In Denmark, you can now kill two birds with one stone and shop for sex toys while buying dinner at Netto.
– Sex toys should be as obvious in the home as a packet of milk, says Moa Kristensson, content manager at Mshop.
On the shelves of the food chain Netto there are already condoms and lubricants, but now the grocery stores in Denmark are expanding the range of personal care products with balls, dildos and vibrators.
Swedish RFSU takes up space on the shelves with their sex toys – something they already did two years ago when Finland was the first to introduce the products to grocery stores. Anette Otterström, who is Nordic communications and brand manager at RFSU, does not think the development is strange.
– In Denmark and Finland, there is already a wide range of condoms and lubricants in the grocery store, where sex toys have a more natural place than in Sweden.
Even Mshop, which sells sex toys to pharmacies and hotels, wants it to be an obvious part of grocery stores.
– Sex toys should be as obvious in the home as a packet of milk, says Moa Kristensson, content manager at Mshop.
Sweden says no
Both Mshop and RFSU have tried to sell sex toys to the Swedish grocery store, but so far no one has picked up on the idea. Anette Otterström believes that one of the reasons is that the pharmacies in Sweden were early adopters and dominate the market.
– It is already a deep-rooted behavior among Swedes to shop at pharmacies in Sweden, rather than being ashamed.
Well packaged
She sees it as a positive development that sex toys are visible in the public space, which makes it less stigmatized and more normalized. And seeing dildos and vibrators in Swedish grocery stores, Anette Otterström believes is not impossible in the future – but welcomes it.
– Pharmacies have a great habit of talking about embarrassing things and helping. That’s their thing, but that may change.
What do you say to the critics who don’t think food and sex toys should be in the same store?
– Sex toys are not what you previously encountered in a sex shop. Today, the packaging is neutrally packaged. I usually say that the buyer should understand what they are buying when standing in the checkout line but everyone else doesn’t have to.