Adult novelty powerhouse Doc Johnson has always offered a wide selection of novelties that enjoy popularity in the gay novelty marketplace, though many of those items were actually designed to have “universal” appeal.
Chad Braverman, Doc Johnson’s manager of product design and licensing, notes that the novelty manufacturer has a number of novelties that can be enjoyed by anyone of any sexuality. “We tend to package those items in a gender neutral manner to reach the widest possible audience,” Braverman says.
By way of example, Braverman points to Doc Johnson’s Classics line, which includes such favorites as the Classic Dong and the Ballsy Super Cock and offers sizes ranging from five- to 12-inches long.
The recently updated packaging for the Classics line lacks any sexual imagery and was intentionally designed to suggest a banknote to reinforce the notion of the line’s time-tested popularity.
The line now boasts Doc Johnson’s new proprietary "SilaGel," a softer, latex-free rubber hybrid material with anti-bacterial qualities that recently replaced the line’s traditional rubber. The items are essentially the same designs that Doc Johnson has offered for three decades, hence "Classics."
The Red Boy collection, a line of sturdy red plastic dildos, vibrators, and butt-plugs noted for their significant girth (the Red Boy Large Ballsy Cock offers a nine-inch circumference) is another example of a gender neutral line, and is packaged in a neutral manner to appeal to people of all sexualities, though the line’s popularity among gay men in particular has led many to think of it as a “gay” line.
Other “universal” novelties include Red’s Leather Collection, a fetish line that includes several cock-and-balls toys as well as restraints and cuffs; Men’s Body Wear, a line of sexy briefs, jocks, thongs, and slings, and several individual novelties such as the recently introduced Men’s Pleasure Wand, a vibrating prostate stimulator.
Not that Doc Johnson avoids creating and marketing products specifically for gay consumers. They offer several Realistic Cocks of porn stars from gay adult production companies All Worlds and Studio 2000. The All Worlds stars are superhung Bam and bodybuilder Ty Fox. Studio 2000's stars are Kevin Dean, Adam Hart, and the newest, Rafael Carreras.
There are several variations of the legendary cock (nine inches long with a seven-inch circumference) of GAYVN Hall of Fame performer Jeff Stryker.
All are cast from molds taken of the genuine articles at Doc Johnson’s North Hollywood manufacturing facilities. The Realistic Cocks are packaged with prominent photos of the porn star from which the dildos and vibes were derived.
Stryker also lent his name and image for the Jeff Stryker Penis Pump, a trigger-action penis pump that quickly became a staple of any well-stocked gay novelty section.
The Big Boys Toys collection, a line that features an assortment of vibrators, butt-plugs, and penis pumps, and the Blue Thunder collection of various sizes and shapes of cobalt-blue jelly butt-plugs were created specifically for the gay marketplace and feature hunky male models on their packaging.
“Both of these lines have done incredibly well for us to the extent that we’re thinking about developing a complete line that all of our gay toys would fall under,” Braverman says.
