Shoppers were tingling with excitement when they spotted stalls handing out free vibrators yesterday.
Around 1,000 people – male and female – joined the queues across New York to get their hands on the sex toys.
Crowds downtown were left frustrated however, when city officials pulled the plug on the traffic-stopping event after only 40 minutes.
Just a few hundred pleasure-seekers got lucky and scored themselves a Trojan vibrator before the event was shut down.
The company had announced that it had an impressive 10,000 of the toys to give away.
It managed to hand out 400 at the Rockefeller Centre but only a couple of hundred downtown before the mayor made sure the event’s battery life ran out.
Linda Postell, who waited in line with scores of other unsatisfied passers-by, told the New York Post: ‘I’m 57 years old. I should be able to get a vibrator!
‘I have a problem with the smoking ban, and the soda ban — and now this!’
In a clear example of the Fifty Shades of Grey effect, mother and daughter Justina and Maria Santiago even picked up their sex toys together.
Trojan condom company caused a sensation when it began handing out vibrators at the Rockefeller Center between 11am and noon.
The giveaways were scheduled to start at 4pm in the Flatiron District and near the South Street Seaport and as carts arrived at each location, nearly 300 women queued up.
But the promotion was interrupted by City Hall, which sent a suited representative to close down.
Park Slope bar owner Melody Henry, 42, said: ‘There’s a lot more important things the city should be worried about than a free-vibrator giveaway.
‘[Mayor] Bloomberg doesn’t want anyone to have fun. You can’t have a giant soda. You can’t have a vibrator.’
The Mayor’s Office insisted the vibrator switch-off was a permit issue, and not due to any prudishness.
‘This activity promoting Trojan products, which impeded pedestrian and street traffic, did not have a permit,’ City Hall said in a written statement.
‘The production company affiliated with the event is currently in discussions with the Mayor’s Office to hold a promotional event with proper permits at a later date.’
Trojan wrote on its Facebook page yesterday morning: ‘Attention New York City! A sensual heat wave alert has been issued for all pleasure seekers! Get lucky at one of the Trojan® Vibrations Pleasure Carts and go home with a free Vibrating Tri-Phoria® and Vibrating Pulse intimate massager (*while supplies last).’
Later, however, it had to add: ‘Tonight’s scheduled Pleasure Cart giveaways have been postponed. Stay tuned for an update tomorrow.’
