Romans blush as pharmacies stock adult 'toys' - Yahoo! News

Romans blush as pharmacies stock adult 'toys' - Yahoo! News

ROME (AFP) - Adult sex toys jostled for space with cotton pads and cough syrup on pharmacy shelves in Rome this week, but a rash of publicity has prompted shopowners to spare the blushes of customers and withdraw them from view, though not from sale.

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"It's Time to Change your Toys" taunted the English-language slogan on the objects' daring display stand as the "toys" went on sale in pharmacies across the Italian capital earlier this week.

But press photographers trying to snap a picture drew a blank on Friday after pharmacists opted for a more prudent approach, deciding to remove the "toys" from the view of unsuspecting adults searching for more prosaic forms of relief... like Vick's vapor rub.

The offending objects are a phallus-shaped vibrator for females and a stimulating "ring" designed for male pleasure.

"The display has been removed to a more private area so as to avoid any embarrassment it might cause to clients," said a statement from Farmacap, a chain of 30 pharmacies run by Rome's left-leaning city authorities.

Farmacap has signed a contract with condom-manufacturer Durex to distribute the sex aids.

The company said Friday the adult toys were "registered as aids or health instruments" in the health ministry's catalogue of recognized pharmaceutical products, and thus as suitable for sale in a pharmacy as Vick's.

The company said the sex aids would likely be useful to people suffering from sexual problems.

Unsurprisingly, the move has shocked conservatives, though at least one saw the funny side.

"Vibrators for all! I can see it now, the outgoing mayor's election slogan," snapped Giuseppe Sorrenti, a member of the National Alliance, part of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government.

"All we need now is for Rocco Siffredi (a porn star) to be appointed as the health secretary," said Sorrenti.