Joe Vela – Emojibator took the world by storm when they released a vibrator in the shape of an eggplant. An incredibly brainy social campaign mixed the humorous sexual innuendo that people were using all over Facebook. One of the reasons why people love Emojibator’s womens sex toys so much is because they actual look extremely discreet. If a person were to simply glance over your room, they would most likely think you have a funny eggplant shaped item in your room and they may bring it up as an interesting piece in a conversation!
In 2011 as soon as the eggplant was released as an emoticon on Facebook
Emoji turned into the phallic symbol of raunchiness of the male genitalia but some people also use it in reference to a dildo. No one quite knows why the Eggplant turned into a sexual innuendo but everyone knows that it is one. The common consensus has lead us to believe that most people believe that the eggplant appears to look a lot like a penis. When you compare this vegetable to the sweet potato, carrot and corn cob the eggplant shape always comes out on top!
It was surprising to find out that when Swiftkey a keyboard company had done a massive study on which emojis were used the most. Swiftkey noted that the eggplant was used within the raunchy category on Facebook so much that is was no longer labelled in their study as a food item. It was considered so much a sexual related icon that Instagram had removed the eggplant emoji tag from their searches!
This is a VIP Interview with Joe Vela CEO and founder of Emojibator.
Tell me about yourself
My name is Joe Vela and I am the CEO and founder of Emojibator. When I’m not slinging sex toys, I play music professionally across the U.S. I have a background in tech and digital marketing and was an early employee at the visual ecommerce platform, Curalate.
What inspired the creation of Emojibator?
Being a musician is a labor of love. I set out to create an additional form of income, and I was brainstorming several ecommerce product ideas. I told a friend about the eggplant emoji vibrator idea as a joke, and she encouraged me to pursue it seriously. I bought the domain for emojibator.com almost instantly.
Being an artist, what do you love about art, emojis and the adult lifestyle industry?
I love art because it’s an outlet to express oneself. One piece of art has the potential to affect a massive number of people or maybe never be shared at all. Emojis are an incredible development in communication and I believe they bring the world closer together, as a universal language. The Digital Revolution has been characterized by people speaking with images instead of text and emojis embody this. The adult industry goes deep and I think I’ve only scratched the surface. Everyone I’ve worked with has been open-minded and loving, like people I’ve encountered in art and music, and accepting of new ideas and concepts and I think that’s why Emojibator has been able to flourish.
How did you take your idea from paper to product development?
I moved really quickly from idea to development becauses I was lucky to partner with an amazing and reputable adult toy manufacturer in China that I met online. Luckily, they were already making vegetable vibrator molds, so the concept was easy to implement. Their engineers are able to work on product developments we have, and we’re continually making small improvements to our products based on customer feedback.
Why did you choose the eggplant emoji?
The eggplant emoji has become the ubiquitous phallic symbol in the emoji world–I cannot take credit for that though. The eggplant entered unicode emoji in 2010. It’s hard to say the first mention of the eggplant as a penis, but we can only presume groups of teenagers on Twitter and Instagram had started the trend almost immediately. In 2012, uses of the emoji on Instagram and Twitter were even banned from search.
Why do you feel that the eggplant is a phallic symbol?
Maybe it’s because there was no cultural association with the eggplant prior to the emoji revolution—it was a perfect euphemism. The eggplant had vegetable blank slate. How many people regularly eat eggplant, let alone harbor deep personal feelings about them?
How did you find people responded to an eggplant vibrator?
The response has been incredibly positive. We sold out of our first 1,000 units in less than a month from launch and our story went viral. I think the product has wow-factor and is certainly surprising to see and feel. I love making people laugh and turned on at the same time.
How would you describe your product range?
We’re creating cheeky sex toys that empower females. Our goal is to make affordable and unique products that please and surprise. From vibrators to pasties to gift cards, I think we are doing what we set out to do. We recently launched the Banana Emojibator and the response has been huge.
When and why do people love wearing nipple emoji’s?
I think people like wearing pasties because they are fun and sexy, and they send that message. A lot of festival goers, party-goers and dancers are using our emoji pasties. It allows them to be naked, but barely. My business partner and CMO, Kristin, was decked out in pasties at the Venus Conference in Berlin and looked amazing.
What materials are your products made out of? Are they body safe?
Yes, Emojibator vibrators are made of medical grade silicone, safe for bodily insertion, and are 100% waterproof.
What are your plans for the future?
We’re expanding our product line with new Emojibator products as well as products from other vendors. We want to continue to astonish our audience and we’d like to get to know our customers better so we can create products just for them. We recently attended Venus Conference in Berlin and are working to expand our retail presence overseas.
You can contact us at [email protected] if you’d like to work with us.
Meet Sexpert, our full-time sex blogger! With a background in women’s lifestyle blogs, she brings expertise to Adultsmart and runs Good Girl Guide too.