情趣用品行业喜迎《五十度灰》上映

When toys are made for movies, they are usually intended for children.

为电影打造的玩具一般是旨在吸引儿童的。

But with the Valentine’s Day weekend premiere of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” many of the tie-ins to the film are for adults only.

但是将于情人节周末首映的《五十度灰》(Fifty Shades of Grey)捆绑销售的许多物品都是只为成人准备的。

The sex toy industry is banking on the hope that the Universal Pictures film will generate soaring sales, much the way the blockbuster erotic novel of the same name created thousands of new customers from the female readers who passed the book around their suburban culs-de-sac.

这部影片由环球影业推出，根据轰动一时的同名情色小说改编，该小说为性玩具产业带来了成千上万名新消费者，大部分是在自家郊区宅邸中读了这本书的女性，该行业希望影片也能发挥同样效果，为产品销量带来巨大提升。

In anticipation of such keen interest, mainstream retailers are stocking up on the pleasure industry’s blindfolds, whips, handcuffs and masks. Manufacturers have designed new packaging and products to fit the kinky tone and theme of the film, which is based on E. L. James’s story about a naïve young woman’s introduction to games of sexual bondage.

主流零售商期待人们会对这一领域产生强烈兴趣，已经储备了大量性爱产业出产的眼罩、鞭子、手铐和面具。制造商设计出新包装和新产品，配合该片奇异的基调和主题。小说原著由E·L·詹姆斯(E. L. James)撰写，讲述一个天真的年轻女人进入性爱奴役的领域。

Even Target, one of the nation’s largest retailers, recently began selling an official “Fifty Shades of Grey” “vibrating love ring,” an item intended for wear by men, but not on the finger.

就连全国最大的零售商之一Target最近也开始销售《五十度灰》官方版“震荡环”，这是给男人戴的，不过不是戴在手指上。

“It is the biggest moment for our industry in popular culture pretty much ever,” said Claire Cavanah, a co-founder of Babeland, an adult novelty retailer. “We’re all sort of preparing for what could be another wave of toys.”

“这大约是我们这个行业在流行文化中最受关注的时刻，”成人玩具零售商Babeland的联合创始人之一克莱尔·卡瓦纳(Claire Cavanah)说。“我们正在全力准备下一波可能到来的性玩具高潮。”

Ms. James’s sexually charged trilogy — two followed “Fifty Shades of Grey” — became a cultural phenomenon, and turned Ms. James into something of a legend.

詹姆斯女士这本充满性爱情节的三部曲——《五十度灰》之后还有两本——成了文化现象，詹姆斯也在某种程度上成为传奇。

She sold the publishing rights to Vintage Books, a division of Random House, and soon reached even more readers who may never have normally read erotic fiction.

她把版权卖给了兰登书屋(Random House)旗下的Vintage Books，很快拥有了更多读者，其中很多人从未读过情色小说。

Last year, Vintage Books announced that it had sold 100 million copies of the series. Ms. James, a middle-aged British mother and former television producer, was credited with introducing the concept of BDSM (standing for, loosely: bondage/discipline, domination/submission, sadism/masochism) into the mainstream vernacular.

去年，Vintage Books宣布，该系列售出了一亿册。詹姆斯是一位英国中年母亲，曾经当过电视制片人，人们认为她把BDSM（代表绑缚/调教、支配/臣服、施虐/受虐）概念引入了主流话语。

She also ignited a huge bidding war in Hollywood. executives vied for a chance to pitch Ms. James and her literary agent, Valerie Hoskins, on how best to tell the story of Anastasia Steele, a virginal 21-year-old student who becomes the submissive sexual partner to Christian Grey, a successful 27-year-old businessman.

她还引发了好莱坞激烈的竞标风潮。高管们竞相向詹姆斯以及她的文学代理人瓦莱丽·霍斯金斯(Valerie Hoskins)投标，说他们能拍好这个关于安娜斯塔西娅·斯蒂尔(Anastasia Steele)的故事，在书中，这个21岁的处女学生成了受27岁的成功商人克里斯蒂安·格雷(Christian Grey)支配的性伴侣。

Universal Studios and Focus Features eventually won, and agreed to pay $5 million for the rights to make the film.

最后获胜的是环球影业与焦点电影公司(Focus Features)，它们同意支付500万美元，获取电影改编权。

The studio wanted to capitalize on the same readers — and others — who sent sales of adult products skyrocketing after “Fifty Shades of Grey” had its debut as an e-book in 2011. Suddenly, retailers had trouble keeping once-obscure products in stock. The novel spurred a 7.5 percent jump in sales of sex-themed products, including toys, videos and books, in 2013, according to a report from the research firm IBISWorld.

环球影业希望充分利用该书的同一批读者——乃至其他观众——自2011年《五十度灰》以电子书形式登场以来，这些读者令成人用品的销售额突飞猛涨。突然之间，这些一度不为人知的产品供不应求。一份来自调研机构IBISWorld的报告表明，2013年，在这本书的刺激之下，与性有关的产品销售额上涨了7.5%，包括性玩具、录像与书籍。

“We were kind of taken by surprise when the book came out,” Ms. Cavanah said. “But we’re much more prepared for the movie.”

“这本书所带来的影响令我们大吃一惊，”卡瓦纳说。“但我们为这部电影做了很多准备。”

The movie will not be as graphic as the book. Neal Slateford, a co-founder of Lovehoney, the only company that has the rights to make the official “Fifty Shades of Grey” adult products sold in Target and elsewhere, does not expect certain toys used in the book’s steamiest scenes to appear in the movie.

电影不会像书那样生动形象。Lovehoney公司是唯一一家获官方许可，为《五十度灰》生产成人用品的公司，并可将这些产品在Target等公司出售。Lovehoney的联合创始人尼尔·斯雷特福特(Neal Slatefod)说，公司不指望书中某些最情色、使用了某些特定道具的场景会出现在电影中。

In an interview, Mr. Slateford said that his brand would not be featured in the film either, although some of the tamer products themselves could be.

在采访中，斯雷特福特说，他的品牌也不会出现在电影里，尽管某些较为温和的产品有可能会出现。

“I think that the movie will reignite sales of the book, which could boost sales,” he said.

“我想这部影片会重新引发购书的高潮，而书会促进成人用品销售，”他说。

Adult-toy experts say it’s difficult to provide an accurate estimate of sales or specific items inspired by the book. But they do point to a few things.

成人玩具专家说，很难准确估计这本书刺激了多少成人用品的销量或特别物品的销量，但他们的确能指出某些东西。

The novel includes one particularly graphic scene involving Ben Wa Balls, also known as Kegel balls, an item that retailers had for years largely promoted as a sexual health product for women, especially after giving birth.

书中有个格外生动的场面写到了本华球(Ben Wa Balls)，又名凯格尔球(Kegel balls)，多年来，零售商们一直将它作为一种促进女性性健康的产品进行推销，特别是生育之后的性健康。

Sales of the balls immediately spiked. The large sex product manufacturer California Exotic Novelties, which used to sell 80,000 to 90,000 each year, sold one million in the six months after the book’s debut, according to its president and chief executive, Susan Colvin.

这种球的销量达到了顶峰，性用品大生产商加州性爱用品(California Exotic Novelties)的总裁兼首席执行官苏珊·科尔文(Susan Colvin)说，公司过去每年只卖出8万至9万个本华球，在这本书出版6个月内就卖出了100万个。

“There was a worldwide shortage of pleasure balls, literally,” said Mr. Slateford, the co-founder of Lovehoney. “Knowing that those aren’t going to be in the movie, I wouldn’t expect to be selling a huge amount of those.”

“事实上，这种性爱用品出现了全球性短缺，”Lovehoney的联合创建者斯雷特福特说。“听说这种产品不会在电影中出现，我认为它的销量不会再激增了。”

The sex toy industry is largely private, and not just culturally. Financial data is difficult to find because so few companies are publicly held.

性玩具产业非常私密，这不仅仅体现在文化上。相关的财务数据也很难找到，因为性玩具公司几乎都没有上市。

Some experts, like Sara Ramirez, the associate publisher for retailing for the adult entertainment trade publication XBIZ, agree that Americans buy somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion worth of pleasure products annually. A more conservative estimate from IBISWorld pegged that number at $610 million in 2013 and projected it to grow to $792 million by 2018.

成人娱乐用品销售业出版物《XBIZ》的联合出版人莎拉·拉米雷斯(Sara Ramirez)等专家认为，美国人每年花费10亿到20亿美元购买性玩具。IBISWorld的估计更加保守，认为2013年美国人花了6.1亿美元购买性玩具，到2018年，这个数字将增长到7.92亿美元。

Since only Lovehoney can officially use the “Fifty Shades of Grey” name, others have been forced to get creative. Pipedream Products, which makes sex toys and novelties, redesigned some of its packaging with a gray-and-black color scheme from the movie.

自从Lovehoney可以正式使用“五十度灰”的名字之后，其他品牌就必须更有创意才行。Pipedream也是专们生产性玩具的公司，它把若干包装重新设计为灰黑色，以便和这部电影契合。

California Exotic Novelties broadened its line of “Scandal” restraints when the movie’s trailer came out in July.

去年7月，当电影推出预告片时，加利福尼亚性爱用品公司拓展了它的“丑闻”束缚用品生产线。

And Jimmyjane, known for its vibrators, is taking its first foray into “soft goods” with a new set of fetish kits inspired by the film that include items like blindfolds and silk ties.

Jimmyjane公司以振荡器而闻名，如今它也开始初次进军“软性商品”市场，推出新的一系列受电影启发的物品，包括眼罩和丝绸领带。

“I would say that every single person has jumped on the bandwagon in terms of making toys around ‘Fifty Shades,’ ” Ms. Ramirez, the XBIZ publisher, said.

“我想说，所有人都在赶这股时髦，想做和《五十度灰》有关的玩具，”《XBIZ》的出版人拉米雷斯说。

Babeland has added 20 new items in anticipation of the movie’s release on Feb. 13. Lovehoney’s “Grey”-themed vibrator is among the best sellers. California Exotic Novelties ordered 10 times its normal amount of inventory for the six months surrounding the film.

为迎接该片在2月13日的上映，Babeland增添了20种新产品。Lovehoney的“格雷”主题振荡器是最畅销产品之一。加利福尼亚性爱用品公司订购了相当于平时库存十倍的产品，为电影上映后的六个月左右时期做准备。

Lovehoney products even made their way into Target in December, where its line of “Fifty Shades of Grey” candles, lubricant and blindfolds upset some parents a few weeks ago at a store where some items were stocked right next to Captain America toothbrushes.

Lovehoney的产品甚至从12月就已经开始在Target销售，包括冠以“五十度灰”的蜡烛、润滑液和眼罩，几周前，这令若干来某家店买东西的父母感到不安，因为这些玩具就放在“美国队长”牙刷的旁边。

But while these companies do not want to miss an opportunity to capitalize on the film, they don’t want to overestimate demand, either.

但这些公司一方面不想错过利用这部电影的机会，但他们也不想过高估计市场需求。

Babeland still has some items left over from when it rushed to increase supplies in 2012. The company has been a bit more conservative this time around, and says that the items tied to the movie represent about 5 percent of all new products.

Babeland仍然有一些2012年急剧增加产品供应期间剩下来的物品。这一次，公司显得保守了一些，声称和电影有关的物品只占所有新产品的5%。

“My personal opinion is that there’s going to be a sharp spike and then it’s going to tail off rather quickly,” said Nick Orlandino, the chief executive of Pipedream Products.

“我个人认为，电影上映后销量会出现峰值，之后也会很快下滑，”Pipedream公司的首席执行官尼克·奥兰迪诺(Nick Orlandino)说。

There are cultural concerns, too. The book may have drawn a niche erotic practice into the spotlight, but some critics also saw a male protagonist who pressured his lover in a way BDSM enthusiasts say is antithetical to what should be a consensual relationship.

此外也有文化方面的考虑。小说可能是把小范围内的性爱体验带到了聚光灯下，但有些批评家认为书中描写了一个逼迫爱人的男主人公，而BDSM爱好者认为，恰恰相反，这是一种双方一致同意的关系。

Those misconceptions, some say, could also extend to sex toys. And manufacturers don’t want customers with unrealistic expectations to be disappointed with their products.

有人说，这些误解也可能会延伸到性玩具领域。生产商们不希望用户对他们的产品抱有不切实际的期待，之后又感到失望。

“A lot of the ways they describe the toys and the products in the book, E.L. James didn’t get quite right,” Ms. Colvin said. “Using kegel balls is not too much fun, it’s actually hard work to do it right.”

“E·L·詹姆斯在书中对这些玩具和产品的许多描述都是不对的，”科尔文说，“凯格尔球并不是那么有趣，要想正确使用它并不是那么容易。”