Sex Shop Chain Wins Fight Over Job Ads

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Sex shop chain Ann Summers, which brought sex toys and saucy lingerie to the masses, won a legal battle on Wednesday when a judge ruled that government job centers must post its help-wanted ads.
They had refused to publicize the company's vacancies because of a government policy barring businesses associated with the sex industry from advertising with state employment centers.

"I think this is a fantastic victory both for Ann Summers and for common sense," the chain's chief executive Jacqueline Gold said afterwards.

A High Court judge ruled that the ban was unlawful, saying that the employment exchanges of Jobcenter Plus had lost sight of their primary purpose of helping people find work.

"It (Jobcenter Plus) paid insufficient regard to its legal obligation to assist employers to find vacancies," Justice Newman ruled.

Ann Summers has become well known in Britain with 82 stores around the country selling raunchy clothes and sex toys with provocative names like "Rampant Rabbit," "Nipple Ripples" and "Jiggle Balls."

In defending its ban, Jobcenter Plus said that advertising Ann Summers vacancies could cause embarrassment to job seekers.

But the chain countered that many other clothing and department stores in Britain also sold lingerie, vibrators and novelty sex items and were not considered to be part of the sex industry.

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