HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Adult novelty manufacturer Hawks Bay spent 2007 touring the United States promoting its Jingle Jugs, a wall-mounted dancing boob rack reminiscent of Billy Bass the Singing Fish.
Jingle Jugs, released in summer 2007, were created by Dave Miller, who was reading about how the singing Billy Bass had sold more than 18 million units while listening to a Rodney Carrington song about breasts and beer. At that moment, Miller had the idea to marry the two concepts.
"In the few months the product has been out, the response has been phenomenal," he said. "In the serious moments of Jingle Jugs' design, I wanted to make it perfectly clear that this was an adult novelty joke item made to appeal across all lines and not be offensive to anyone. I feel that we have been successful by virtue of the fact that more than 42 percent of our buyers have been female."
The 2007 marketing blitz included appearances on radio and at bars, promotional events, NASCAR races, the Long Beach Grand Prix and the Playboy Mansion.
During the three-day Grand Prix in Long Beach, Miller said, the crowd was always packed with all types of women.
"In the test booth at the Grand Prix, we saw a cross-section of America, young and old," he said. "[Even] a sophisticated 70-something lady ... walked away with three sets. Fathers brought their boys by for ‘the talk,' and even fun-loving 30-something gals came by to see how they stacked up against the robotic version."
After seeing the Jingle Jugs' success, Hawks Bay co-founder Keith Jones told AVN Novelty Business, female family members urged him and Miller to "give back" because they were making money off breasts.
"We've got wives, daughters, sisters and mothers," he explained. "They came to us and said, ‘Listen. You're making money off boobs. You should give back!' So we decided to set aside 10 percent of everything we sell and pool it, then quarterly donate it to a charity of choice."
Jones said several of the charities who have received donations from wished to remain anonymous because the funds came from an adult company.
"We have proof of submitting the donations to all of the charities," he said. "But out of respect for their wishes, we don't want to use their name to further our cause."
Send wholesale and distribution inquiries to Jones at [email protected].
To read a review of Jingle Jugs, which appeared in the November 2007 issue of AVN Novelty Business, click here.
