 
 
 “Has life got you stressed out?” begins a voiceover in the commercial, in an over-the-top style of an infomercial, as a woman sits stuck in traffic. “Want to have some fun? New from Trojan, a brand you trust. Introducing vibrating Tri-Phoria — it’s like three massagers in one.” 
 
 The new commercial, by Sullivan Productions of Tampa, Fla., calls the product a “personal massager.” Borrowing a trope from pharmaceutical commercials, it continues, “Side effects of Tri-Phoria may include screams of ecstasy, curled toes, a sudden glow and intense waves of pleasure.” 
 
 In “The Technology of Orgasm,” a history of the vibrator, Rachel P. Maines writes that in the early 1900s the devices were advertised in women’s magazines and the Sears catalog, albeit obliquely as relaxation aids, and it was not until they started appearing in stag films in the 1920s that, as Ms. Maines puts it, their “social camouflage” was undone and such ads disappeared. 
 
 Asked to review the new Tri-Phoria commercial, Ms. Maines said it “comes very close to telling you what it is good for” without quite doing so. 
 
 “The camouflage used to be a lot thicker, but there’s still a very thin layer of camouflage,” she said. “The networks have moved to where they’re resigned to accept some sort of advertising — but they still require a fig leaf held up with suspenders.” 
 
 Brian Fays, executive vice president for advertising at MTV, which is owned by Viacom, lauded Trojan’s restraint. 
 
 Photo 
 
 “No matter how liberal you are, a little kid doesn’t need to hear the word ‘vibrator,’ ” said Mr. Fays, who knows about advertising decisions by other Viacom networks that accepted the Tri-Phoria commercial, like Comedy Central, Logo and Spike. 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 “At first there was a certain amount of trepidation that maybe the viewing public wasn’t prepared to see a commercial with vibrators, and we automatically put it in the overnight slot, but we opened it up because, instead of it being taboo, they got their point across subtly,” he said. 
 
 MTV, in fact, is among the most restrictive of the cable networks, permitting the Tri-Phoria spot only between 3:30 a.m. and 6 a.m., which Mr. Fays attributed to the network’s having a “younger demographic.” But if the commercial has “smooth sailing” during earlier slots on other Viacom networks, MTV may permit it to be seen in earlier time slots too, he said. 
 
 Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. 
 
  
 
 Not everyone views television networks’ greater acceptance of ads of a sexual nature as a victory. On Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement urging, among other things, that ads for erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra be shown only after 10 p.m. and “not be overly suggestive.” 
 
 Trojan says the Tri-Phoria campaign represents the largest advertising campaign for a vibrator, and that the company is spending “millions” on it, but declines to be more specific. The Trojan brand spent a total of $22.4 million on advertising (most of it focused on condoms) in 2009, according to the Kantar Media unit of WPP. 
 
 Market research companies that follow a variety of consumer goods do not track the vibrator market, but research by Trojan pegs annual revenue for the devices in the United States at about $1 billion, 2.5 times that of condoms. 
 
 According to Trojan-financed studies published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, 52.5 percent of women and 44.8 percent of men have used vibrators. Contrary to the perception that the devices are nearly always used by the unaccompanied, 40.9 percent of women and 40.5 percent of men report having used them with sexual partners. 
 
 Men made 40 percent of the online purchases of the Mini and the Touch, two small vibrators Trojan introduced in the last two years. In 2009 it focused on men with ads in Maxim for the Mini. 
 
 Jim Daniels, vice president for marketing at Trojan, said the restrained approach of the ad on cable networks would increase the likelihood of eventually gaining approval for the commercials on the major broadcast networks. 
 
 “Our goal is with facts and experience on our side to approach networks for approval, possibly in the early part of next year,” Mr. Daniels said. 
 
 He says that although Tri-Phoria is available only on Trojan’s Web site now, he expects it to be carried at major retailers like CVS, Walgreen’s and Wal-Mart beginning in the first half of 2011. 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 “This is right in Trojan’s wheelhouse,” he said. “We think we’re creating a good buzz — pun intended — and we think consumers will be happy with the products we’re offering.” ||||| Trojan recently released a state-of-the-art vibrator: the Triphoria. Three unique tips! The company also figured out how to get cable networks to let them advertise the sex toy during the day: Don't call it a "vibrator." 
 
 Trojan just assumed that prudish cable networks would stick their commercial for Triphoria between early-morning reruns of Seinfeld. But the spot does such a good job of just barely indicating what the product does that many networks, including VH1 and Comedy Central, have approved the commercial for early evening and even day slots, according to the Times. 
 
 The key was not mentioning the word "vibrator." One network exec tells the Times: "No matter how liberal you are, a little kid doesn't need to hear the word ‘vibrator,'" Instead, the commercial plugs the "vibrating triphoria," as a "personal massager." 
 
 So, kids will turn into sex maniacs at the word "vibrator," but "vibrating Triphoria" is OK? We know kids are dumb, but do they not understand how nouns and verbs work? Can they not comprehend the fact that something which vibrates is, technically, a "vibrator"? We are headed down a slippery semantic slope, here. By this logic, Trojan could advertise a new double-headed dildo—the Duojoy—by marketing it as the "dual-penetrating Duojoy." Or a new ball-gag—the Stuff-o-Matic: The "Smothering Stuff-o-matic". Who knows what kinds of esoteric sex acts our children may someday half-understand! 
 
 Not that we have any problem with this. Just looking out for the kids, here.
– Condom king Trojan managed to get its new vibrator commercial on TV—and not just during the wee hours—by doing one simple thing: not referring to the product as a vibrator. Apparently referring to it by its proper name (“Vibrating Tri-Phoria”) is OK. Trojan also agreed not to show the actual product: Instead, it shows multiple boxes, all of which vibrate jubilantly as the voiceover promises side effects including “screams of ecstasy, curled toes, a sudden glow, and intense waves of pleasure,” the New York Times reports. “No matter how liberal you are, a little kid doesn’t need to hear the word ‘vibrator,’” says an MTV exec. Really? wonders Adrian Chen at Gawker: “We know kids are dumb, but do they not understand how nouns and verbs work? Can they not comprehend the fact that something which vibrates is, technically, a ‘vibrator’? We are headed down a slippery semantic slope, here. By this logic, Trojan could advertise a new double-headed dildo—the Duojoy—by marketing it as the ‘dual-penetrating Duojoy.’”