B&Q staff prepare for '50 Shades of Grey'-inspired surge in bondage sales
Brace yourself. A '50 Shades of Grey'-inspired bondage trend is apparently about to engulf the UK.
The news comes from B&Q, which has decided that after seeing the film, we'll all be popping down to our local DIY store for a length of rope and a roll of duct tape. To save embarrassment all round, it made the decision to prepare staff, with an unexpected internal memo.
According to the Telegraph, a memo was posted to the staff intranet that warned of flocks of intrigued customers roaming the aisles searching for cable ties. It said that staff ought to be prepared for 'sensitive' questions from these customers.
To help in the preparations, it's sending copies along to each store for staff to borrow so they can get to grips with the kind of equipment required to re-enact the scenes. It will then mean they can respond to eager requests for duct tape in a "polite, helpful and respectful manner." It added: "A level of discretion is also advised."
%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar-shopping-guide%
The flurry of interest in bondage is expected to hit this weekend, when the film adaptation is released. The film includes a scene in a DIY shop, where the bondage fans are stocking up, and the bigwigs at B&Q have decided that the scene will play itself out in big orange warehouses across the country.
The memo added - for the avoidance of doubt - that: "It is always B&Q's policy that products should only be used for their designed purposes. Nevertheless, all staff should read this briefing notice to prepare for potentially sensitive customer enquiries and managers need to be aware of the implications that the film may have on stock levels."
It might seem like something of a leap of logic, but it seems that this isn't just the product of an over-active imagination at the boardroom table, the memo goes on: "When the book was released in 2012 DIY and hardware stores in the UK and US reported increased demand of certain products and queries from customers as they tried to recreate their own "Fifty Shades" experiences. We need to be prepared for the same effect when the film is released this month."
Will demand surge?
The idea that a film can sell products is not a new one, as anyone with a primary-school-age child in their life and a house full of Frozen merchandise will tell you. Likewise it's not news that when Kate Moss flings on a Primark Cape, or Kate Middleton sports an ASOS dress, the rest of the nation dashes out to buy one of their own.
There is a precedent for successful films having an impact on demand for something featured as a prop too. After the movie 'Sideways' was released in 2004 - with one character singing the praises of Pinot Noir over Merlot - there were a number of reports that Pinot Noir sales boomed. The claim was investigated by Sanoma State University, which found that there had indeed been a 'Pinot Noir effect' after the release of the film.
However, the evidence for the surge in demand for bondage gear after 50 Shades of Grey was published appears anecdotal. Reports suggest a number of individual stores saw a spike in demand for rope - from New York to Suffolk - but there's no overall surge revealed in broader industry figures.
Likewise, a widely reported increase in the sale of sex toys in the UK after the release of the 50 Shades trailer in July was in fact based on a survey that showed searches on one particular voucher site increased 53% in 24 hours. There are a number of possible explanations for this - one of which is that statistics relating to one specific voucher site are no basis for a report claiming we're all rushing out to buy whips because we saw them in a film trailer.
Certainly there's plenty of evidence that more people have considered or investigated BDSM as a result of a book featuring the lifestyle becoming mainstream, but the fact remains that it's a niche lifestyle adopted by less than 2% of people. It turns out that while they may enjoy reading about it, most people just don't like getting hurt.
It begs the question of whether B&Q genuinely expects the nation to be queuing for rope the morning after seeing the film, or whether they were hoping it would be leaked, and provide them with plenty of column inches in a traditionally dull season for the DIY business.
Cynics will no doubt suggest the latter.
But what do you think? Should we expect people to descend on their local B&Q asking 'sensitive questions' such as "Will this fit around my wife's wrists?' and "How will I untie her afterwards?", or is this all a publicity stunt?
Sales surges on AOL Money
Rihanna causes a run on Tesco jogging trousers
Duchess of Cambridge causes a run on a £17.50 dress
Tesco launches copy of Kate's sell-out Reiss dress
