LAS VEGAS — Lora DiCarlo’s Osé Robotic Massager was to be one of a handful of honorees this week at Consumer Electronics Show’s robotics and drones Innovation Awards show.
But two week ago, Lora DiCarlo’s founder, Lora Haddock, received word from CES’ organizers that the technology trade show had disqualified the device from the awards program and banned the company’s product from the show.
Haddock was told that the Osé didn’t comply with regulations of the show’s and award’s organizer, the Consumer Technology Association, which cited rules saying products that are “immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA’s image will be disqualified.” Later, the CTA backtracked and said the product simply didn’t fit in the robotics and drones category.
Lora DiCarlo is a pleasure products startup that bills itself as “determined to change the face of ‘sex tech.” The company has partnered with Oregon State University’s College of Engineering to develop a range of products to “close the orgasm gap and make blended orgasms a right rather than a reach.”
The Lora DiCarlo team was set to offer a sneak peek of their first product in Las Vegas at CES Showstoppers, an invitation-only media reception that offers participating companies a way to meet journalists, analysts and key industry influencers face to face.
The team had high expectations going into CES, and Haddock was gearing up for the trek to Las Vegas.
“Lora DiCarlo joined a small percentage of other products that were awarded such a coveted honor each year; this feather in our collective cap made years of research and engineering even more worthwhile and further validated our vision for creating innovative, inclusive products that change lives,” Haddock said.
“My team rejoiced and celebrated. A month later our excitement and preparations were cut short when we were unexpectedly informed that the administrators at CES and CTA were rescinding our award and subsequently that we would not be allowed to showcase Osé, or even exhibit at CES 2019.”
Haddock said that a panel of independent expert judges in robotics scored the Osé highly across all judging criteria.
“They saw the same marvel of cutting-edge technology that we did,” she said. “A product that pushes the limits of engineering and design and opens the door to even bigger leaps in innovation, beyond even the ‘sex tech’ uses.”
A stunned Haddock revealed that the CTA has been “extremely cagey” on why they took away the award.
“Putting aside for a moment the implication that women’s sexual wellness products are somehow immoral or obscene — if we didn’t fit their policy, how in the world did our application even get past the first round of vetting by CTA staff, let alone receive high marks across the board from their expert judges?” Haddock asked.
According to an email supplied by Haddock, CTA officials said that its “strict policy” forbids adult companies from exhibiting on the show floor. Meeting rooms or suites, however, were a possibility to show off their goods at this year’s show, the officials said.
But for Haddock that wouldn’t do. Only because other adult companies in past years have made it to the floor, including ones that sell adult vibrators and virtual-reality content.
“It’s also important to note that a literal sex doll for men launched on the floor at CES in 2018 and a VR porn company exhibits there every year, allowing men to watch pornography in public as consumers walk by,” Haddock said.
“Clearly CTA has no issue allowing explicit male sexuality and pleasure to be ostentatiously on display,” Haddock said. “Other sex toys have exhibited at CES and some have even won awards, but apparently there is something different, something threatening about Osé, a product created by women to empower women.”
CTA’s decision to pull the award for Lora DiCarlo has some organizations, including the Free Speech Coalition, calling foul. The move could be indicative of a broader problem of sexism in the tech industry and at the annual Las Vegas conference.
Eric Paul Leue, who leads the FSC as executive director, told XBIZ that "CES' bias against sexual wellness isn't just unfair and stigmatizing, it's culturally backwards.”
“The adult industry has helped power many of the innovations that drive tech today, and the pleasure products industry is witnessing a boom in innovation, often led by women and queer people,” Leue said. “CES' ban on most adult businesses started several years ago, and with each passing year it's been clear just how myopic a decision that was.
“Their continued fear of sex and sexuality is going to lead them into irrelevance,” Leue said. “Thankfully, for anyone interested in covering our innovative, booming, shame-free industry, ANME is around the corner."
Pictured: Osé Robotic Massager
