French Sex Toy Sales Fall As Credit Crunch Bites

Sales in the French erotic industry have fallen as the global economic crisis has driven consumers to reduce their spending on sex toys, massage oils and other kinky products, Reuters reports.

At 'Big Eropolis', an erotic fair that opened on Friday near Paris which bills itself as the biggest of its kind in the world, attendance was healthy but stall owners said customers were not spending as much as in previous years.

"We are hit by the financial crisis. We are not in the car industry either, so we haven't seen a drop in sales of 50 percent, but the financial crisis has hit us," the fair's organiser Eric Heuninck said of the industry.

"Of course there's been an impact on business. Before, when a customer came and we presented the products, we always managed to sell them two or three items. Now, alas, they leave with one single item. We feel the impact," said Bernard Montagud, who runs a sex toy stand at the fair which travels around France.

But to some visitors at the fair, which also included a stage on which stripteases were performed to loud music, falling sales of sex toys made no sense in the current economic climate.

"When you can't go out, you have fun at home. So maybe it it can work," said woman who said her spending in the area hadn't changed.

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