Riding Harry Potter's broom to a place of great fun

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This is pretty funny. From Feministing:


Apparently this made CNNMoney.com's list of 101 Dumbest Moments in Business 2003:
Shortly after Mattel releases its Nimbus 2000 broom as part of its line of Harry Potter toys, the vibrating device begins getting the wrong sort of customer raves. "I'm 32 and enjoy riding the broom as much as my 7-year-old," says one enthusiastic mother on Amazon. "My only complaint is, I wish the batteries didn't run out quite so quickly." Mattel stops making the toy, but denies that the unintended value-add is the reason. Says a spokesperson: "It's just not a continued product in our line."
I don't see what was dumb about it. It seems to me the dumb move was stopping production. A Harry Potter quidditch broom seems like the perfect "cover" for selling a sex toy. The company has plausible deniability to keep the prudes at bay. And the sales roll in. What could be better?

Heck, why doesn't Rowling license some company to produce a line of Harry Potter sex toys? "Magic wands"...you gotta find the one that's right for you...etc. I'm sure they'd sell really well. And it would do wonders for the mainstreaming of sexuality. Harry and his pals are all grown up now. I'm sure by the end of book seven they must be full-fledged sexual beings. And the Christianists, already hostile to Potter's wizardly paganism, would go absolutely apoplectic with rage. It would be so cool.

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