COSTA MESA, CA —Hell hath no fury like a home based sex toy party business scorned. In the case of Brown Bag Party vs. Pure Romance, the problem isn’t so much scorn but alleged lies about the former company’s untimely demise. According to Brown Bag Party of Costa Mesa, CA, competitor Pure Romance may have a soft name, but it also has a sharp and forked corporate tongue. The company filed suit in federal court yesterday, claiming that Pure Romance has been telling potential clients to avoid business with Brown Bag Party because it is going out of business.
Libel, false advertising, unfair competition and interference with business are the tools of the trade Brown Bag Party claims its market share rival is employing and it is demanding at least $75,000 in damages for enduring the insult.
At the heart and soul of the sexy toy party concept are the women who host events in their own homes, showing lingerie, sex toys and other novelties in much the same way that Tupperware representatives demonstrate the latest and greatest way to “whisper” air from a plastic container from within a domestic setting.
Hosts then make money from sales commissions, with Pure Romance counting its reps in the tens of thousands and earning $90 million in sales last year alone, up 30-percent from the previous two years.
As Brown Bag’s suit claims, during this year’s March 14th – 15th Las Vegas convention, Pure Romance owners and spokespeople insisted that Brown Bag “was going into bankruptcy” and “going out of business.” The alleged gossips are said to have assured listeners that Pure Romance would save the day by purchasing the company.
Brown Bag insists that the entire story is bunk and that those who spread it knew as much but were more interested in luring new sales representatives into the fold than telling the truth.
Pure Romance insists that the lawsuit is nothing more than revenge for a suit it filed in Hamilton County, OH against women who had promised to work for them but, instead, switched allegiances.
