Ann Summers
Encyclopedia
Ann Summers is a United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-based retailer specialising in sex toys and lingerie
Lingerie
Lingerie are fashionable and possibly alluring undergarments.Lingerie usually incorporates one or more flexible, stretchy materials like Lycra, nylon , polyester, satin, lace, silk and sheer fabric which are not typically used in more functional, basic cotton undergarments.The term in the French...

, with over 140 high street
High Street
High Street, or the High Street, is a metonym for the generic name of the primary business street of towns or cities, especially in the United Kingdom. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in city centres, and is most often used in reference to retailing...

 stores in the UK, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...

 and Spain. In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the Knickerbox brand, a label with an emphasis on more comfortable and feminine underwear, while the Ann Summers-labeled products tend to be more sexual in style. The chain had an annual turnover of £117.3 million in 2007-2008.

History

The company was named after Annice Summers, the female secretary of the male founder, Caborn Waterfield. Annice Summers, who was born Annice Goodwin in 1941 but took her stepfather’s surname, left the company soon after it opened following a row with Caborn. She currently resides in Umbria, Italy, two hours from Rome as a reclusive multi-millionaire.

Retail

The first Ann Summers shop was opened in 1970 in Marble Arch
Marble Arch
Marble Arch is a white Carrara marble monument that now stands on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane, and Edgware Road, almost directly opposite Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in London, England...

, London, from which it grew to six shops.

Ann Summers was purchased in 1972 by brothers Ralph and David Gold, who turned it from a standard sex shop into an established high street brand and lingerie boutique. In 1981, David Gold installed his daughter Jacqueline Gold
Jacqueline Gold
Jacqueline Gold is a British business woman, and is currently Chief Executive of the Gold Group International companies Ann Summers and Knickerbox. She is the 16th richest woman in Britain.-Early life:...

 (who is the current Chief Executive of Ann Summers) and she introduced the Party Plan concept. The retail operations for all of Ann Summers’ shops are managed from the Head Office in Whyteleafe
Whyteleafe
Whyteleafe is a small town in South East England, in the Surrey district of Tandridge. Four streets in Whyteleafe are just inside the southern edge of the London Borough of Croydon. Neighbouring villages and towns include Woldingham, Caterham, Coulsdon, Warlingham, and Kenley...

, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, and as of December 2010 Ann Summers operates 144 retail outlets across the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Spain.

The shops offer lingerie, underwear, cosmetics
Cosmetics
Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...

 and swimwear and sex toys. The stores sell 2 million Rampant Rabbits
Rabbit vibrator
Rabbit vibrator is a vibrating and rotating sex toy made in the shape of a phallus with a clitoral stimulator attached to the shaft. The name of the device is derived from the fact that the clitoral stimulator looks like a pair of rabbit ears...

, a kind of vibrator
Vibrator
Vibrator may refer to:* Vibrator —a device for massage or sexual pleasure.* Vibrator —a class of devices which create mechanical vibrations for uses such as signaling annunciators, doorbells, or industrial uses such as compacting gravel, transporting materials, cleaning, etc.* Vibrator —an...

 exclusive to Ann Summers, per year.

Party Plan

Jacqueline Gold initiated the Party Plan concept in 1981. Initially, the Ann Summers parties were as much a way of circumventing regulations restricting the display of sex toys as they were a marketing tactic, but their popularity quickly grew and Ann Summers now employs over 7,500 Party Organisers, coordinated from the Head Office in Surrey. There are around 4000 Ann Summers Parties every week in the UK.

The Ann Summers parties are exclusively women-only, and include the presentation of sex toys and lingerie in the informal setting of someone’s home; usually the home of one of the attendees. It can also involve the perusal of a catalogue, and often there are party games.

Controversy

Due to the adult nature of the business, Ann Summers has frequently faced opposition, both legal and social. For example, in 2003, they won a legal battle to advertise for employees in job centres and an ASA
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)
The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...

 complaint was rejected.

They have also encountered opposition to their advertising. The company received a letter of complaint from Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...

, due to a non-endorsed advert featuring the Queen.

In 2010, Ann Summers’ Halloween advert was banned by the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre, which decided the advert used "fairly overt sexual references in terms of sound effects"

Additionally, Ann Summers in Perth was forced to close after the local people complained about the store (mostly from parents embarrassed by questions raised by their children), which also led to other problems with the store. Perth was originally the only UK town where an Ann Summers store failed to take off. However, in May 2007 the Middleton Grange, Hartlepool store which opened in November 2005 was closed after less than two years of trading due to poor sales.

In 2003, the company's payments to party organisers were discussed by a number of media sources.

In 2004, two complaints were upheld by the ASA. The ASA decided that the first ad was degrading to women, offensive and unsuitable for use as a poster. In the second case the ASA ruled that the use of a nursery rhyme was likely to attract the attention of children and that the advertisement was unsuitable for the medium in which it appeared.

In 2006, Muslim groups complained about the release of a blow up doll named Mustafa Shag, claiming that the doll was offensive to Muslims as Mustafa was one of the names given to the Prophet Mohamed.

In 2007, the company faced legal issues with Apple Inc due to its release of an electronic add-on to music players called the iGasm. The company has not backed down despite cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....

 orders by Apple. Also, a former director, who is now a Beate Uhse AG
Beate Uhse AG
Beate Uhse AG is a German industry group with focus on selling adult entertainment in the form of sex toys, lingerie, clothing and pornography. It is the most successful company in the German sex industry, and the country's leading pornography retailer...

 employee is pursuing a libel claim against Jacqueline Gold. A recent advert was banned from the tube.

The company's head office was raided as part of an immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

check in 2004, and 15 staff were arrested and 10 were subsequently deported.

Ann Summers lingerie factory in Portsmouth closed in 2005, with over 50 redundancies.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK