In news that most fan fiction writers couldn’t even dream up, Harry Styles has launched a line of premium sex toys under his lifestyle brand, Pleasing. Styles has long been a sex-positive role model, so this endeavour – Pleasing Yourself – is a natural foray into the sexual wellness space.
The launch includes two flagship products: the Pleasing Double-Sided Vibrator, created in collaboration with sex educator and advocate Zoe Ligon, and Pleasing Lube, an FDA-approved silicone lubricant. Beyond functionality, the brand aims to foster open, inclusive conversations about pleasure and health.
“The expansion reflects a clear intention: to explore sexual wellness through a lens of emotional depth, cultural fluency, joy and pleasure, and genuine care,” the brand says. “Too often, sexual wellness brands and companies are reduced to extremes: clinical or performative, hyper-polished or overly provocative. Pleasing seeks to offer something different - products and experiences that are considered and joyful, and a voice that is intelligent, inclusive, and unafraid to explore the nuance of intimacy.”
But while Styles’ new sub-brand marks a significant expansion of his brand into intimate self-care, it might mark a broader shift in celebrity branding overall.
The celebrity beauty boom has created a feverish hype culture fuelled by Gen-Z fans. For heritage brands, not embracing it can be fatal.
Celebrity-endorsed beauty brands have long dominated the consumer market, from Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty to Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty and Hailey Bieber’s Rhode. But not satisfied with taking over the beauty industry, celebrities are beginning to swarm the sexual wellness space. In 2020, Cara Delevingne joined sex tech company Lora DiCarlo as co-owner and creative advisor. Delevingne told Fortune in 2021 that Lora DiCarlo “was the only women-led and femme-focused brand in the sex tech space that is really pushing the conversation around sexual wellness for everyone.”
That same year, singer Lily Allen released a custom vibrator with German company Womanizer, aiming to normalise female pleasure. Meanwhile, actress Dakota Johnson took on a creative director role at Maude, a modern sexual wellness brand focused on design-forward intimacy products.
These moves suggest that sexual wellness is becoming the new frontier for celebrity entrepreneurship. But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Lora DiCarlo folded in 2023; employees (including senior management) received text messages informing them that their positions were terminated, effective immediately. There were no severance payments, and many were shocked to discover their health insurance had already lapsed due to non-payment.
Much like the beauty industry before it, sex tech is attracting big names. But, also like beauty, a celebrity face doesn’t guarantee instant success. In recent years, several celebrity beauty brands have launched and folded, including Kristen Bell’s Happy Dance, Addison Rae’s Item Beauty, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s Rose Inc.
“Celebrity crossovers from fragrance and beauty to pleasure matter because it shows that sexual wellness isn’t a fleeting trend, it’s here to stay,” says sex educator Samantha Marshall, head of brand at Smile Makers Collection. "Unlike a lipstick shade or a popular, emerging workout trend pleasure isn’t seasonal and should be more mainstream. The fact that icons like Harry Styles are lending their name to vibrators pushes this category into everyday conversation, breaking through the censorship and taboo that has surrounded it for decades.”
Marshall believes that quality is what matters most: “The design has to invite you to keep exploring and to return to what genuinely gives you pleasure. And that’s where I see the parallel with celebrity fragrance and makeup lines: the ones that really last are the ones that invest in true quality and innovation, not something off the shelf.”
“Given Harry Styles’ audience, largely Gen Z and Zillennials, I think this crossover is especially interesting,” adds Marshall. “We often see reports about how little sex Gen Z is having, but those conversations tend to dismiss the rise of self-pleasure. The reaction to this news shows there’s a real appetite among younger people to explore their own bodies, to own their pleasure, and to build confidence in that. It’s a huge opportunity to make pleasure education more accessible for a generation that’s rewriting the rules around intimacy.”
Sexual wellness is an exciting, emerging space, but it's already becoming saturated. What the industry needs now is purpose and fresh ideas. Harry Styles is a welcome addition, and others should take note: partnering with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America moves Pleasing Yourself beyond just another celebrity brand, and into something that could create real cultural and social impact.
