After an embarrassing debacle over a sex toy on last year’s show floor, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has announced it will allow sex-tech products on a “one-year trial basis” in 2020.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the group behind CES, announced on July 16 that its new “Innovation for All” focus would include sexuality products as part of its Health & Wellness product category. “CTA is committed to evolving and continuing to create an experience at CES that is inclusive and welcoming for everyone,” said Karen Chupka, executive vice president of CES, in a statement issued Tuesday. That “everyone” now includes companies innovating in the sex-tech field.
The change to show policy comes after sex-tech startup Lora DiCarlo was awarded an innovation award for it’s Osé “robotic massager” at last year’s show, only to have the accolade rescinded. CTA cited its terms and conditions, which stated that products deemed “immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA’s image will be disqualified.” The revocation of the award sparked outrage, with critics pointing out the sexism inherent in the decision. The award was reinstated several months later.
Now, CTA has revisited its policies and decided to give sex tech a chance. CTA’s senior vice president of marketing Jean Foster told CNN Business, “We’ve been really open about how we didn’t handle it well and we apologized publicly…and it caused us to revisit this and say, we should look at this as a technology.” Lora DiCarlo has announced that the company was instrumental in drafting the new policies, and that they will be on the 2020 show floor at CES.
But CTA wants to be clear: This is a one-year trial for sexual products, and there are strict rules about what will make the cut. What the group is calling “sech-based sexual products” must be “innovative and include new or emerging tech to qualify” for a spot on the show floor, according to the new guidelines. “We don’t want to see rows and rows of just standard vibrators,” said Chupka.
CES will also be cracking down on their dress code, outlawing “sexually revealing or that could be interpreted as undergarments.” And, as a nod to including more women in its programming, the 2020 show will feature four female keynote speakers.
