Can you distinguish a hair device from an adult toy? Take this short test to find out:
[Spoiler Alert] The correct answers are shown below.
These are hair devices:
You can find these products here:
- Brightup Curling Iron
- Tria Hair Removal
- Tangle Teezer Hairbrush
These are adult toys:
You can find these products here:
- Tantus Ripple Anal Beads
- iroha+ KUSHI Vibrator
- Starsi Vibrator
Our findings
Based on 1878 submissions, we have found the following:
- 43% of respondents could not distinguish a curling iron from anal beads;
- people who did not disclose their sex guessed better than those who did;
- gen z males gave 52.2% more correct answers than gen x females.
The first question was the trickiest
43.1% of respondents made a mistake on the first question, 34.6% on the second question, and 31.9% on the third question.
Takeaway: similarities in shape with sex toys are the #1 factor that can confuse the perception of the hair product’s purpose.
Our perception depends on sex
Males on average gave 1.92 correct answers while females scored only 1.73. It’s curious: the products are targeted primarily toward women but men provided 11% more accurate answers.
However, people who did not wish to disclose their sex scored 2.03. Their answers were 17.5% more accurate than women’s and 5.6% more accurate than men’s.
Takeaway: people who don’t want to disclose their sex might be more knowledgeable customers of the beauty and adult gadget industries.
Our perception depends on the generation
Zoomers were the best at guessing the purpose of the device with 2.02 correct answers on average. Baby boomers provided an average of 1.79 correct answers, which is the smallest number among all generations. Millennials and generation x scored 1.9 and 1.86 respectively.
Takeaway: there is a strong inverse correlation between the customer’s age and his/her awareness and interest in beauty and sex products.
And even our nationality matters
UK males provided 7% more correct answers than US males; at the same time, US and UK females have almost identical scores.
Participants who belong to generation X from the UK who did not specify their sex were most accurate with 2.57 correct answers on average.
And female participants from the US who belong to generation X were the least accurate with 1.33 correct answers on average.
Final thoughts
We started this as a test for fun and did not expect to see such results. Our findings mean that the expected behaviors among customers could be not fully studied. Our results can be used to study different segments of the target audience of the beauty industry.
Methodology and data
We asked our community to distinguish sex toys from hair products. 1878 responses were collected in total. The correct answer was calculated as 1 point and the incorrect answer was calculated as zero points. After this, we compared the results by different segments.
Link to complete data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uKI3POD78E_RPyTfHSye7k8P2_wIRE-EpPCli4dZj84/edit?usp=sharing