Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Does organic really mean anything?

It seems these days that the way to sell a product is to slap the word 'green', 'natural' or 'organic' on it. I'm seeing these kinds of products popping up all over the place - new lubricants, lotions and potions, and even toys with those words on them. Does it really mean anything? Here are some fun examples of 'natural' or 'organic' products I've come across lately.

There is a health food store in the city that sells the line of vibrators called 'Natural Contours'. Those vibes are pretty good toys - they are made by Candida Royalle's company. The term 'natural' refers only to the fact that the designed to work with the curves of the body. In terms of ingredients, there's nothing natural about them. They are simple plastic vibes like any other toy. But 'Natural' on the label earns them a spot on the health food shelf.

There's another company that's relatively new that has been doing a huge marketing push on their 100% organic products. I got some samples sent to me the other day and had a good look at the ingredients. Their bath gel contains sodium laureth sulphate and artifical dyes. I'd like to know how they find organic sources for those. Plus they also sell g-spot enlarging creams and anal desensitizing sprays. What's natural about that?

I've also seen a number of companies starting to put '100% vegan' on their labels. That's all fine and good but when it's a product that wouldn't naturally contain any kind of animal product anyway, why do you need that on the label. Methinks it is to sell more products.

The thing is, natural isn't always better anyway. There are a lot of natural things that can kill you. There are also many products that sound like they are synthetic but are actually produced from natural sources. So it's important just to be aware of what really should be in something that you plan to put inside your body, and what should not. In general, as far as lubricants and lotions go, the fewer ingredients, the better. There's just no reason to dump a lot of stuff into a lube or lotion so why do it?

In the meantime, I think I'm going to start promoting that The Traveling Tickle Trunk is 'green'. As those of you who've been in the store know, it really is (painted green, that is).