Sex toy firm endorsed by the Queen airs TV ad tonight

A TV ADVERT from a sex toy firm which features romping rabbits, spanking and sexually suggestive fruit will hit TV screens tonight just days after the firm was endorsed by the Queen.

The tongue-in-cheek ad for Lovehoney, which received the Queen's Award for Enterprise in April for boosting British exports, does not feature a sex toy – due to broadcasting restrictions. 

It has been cleared to run on TV after the 9pm watershed and aims to leave viewers with a smile on their face. 

The ad will run in the breaks during some of Britain's biggest TV shows. 

Lovehoney co-owners Richard Longhurst and Neal Slateford met the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and other senior member of the Royal family at Buckingham Palace last week at an official reception for Queen's Award winners. 

The Royal accolade allows Lovehoney to use the official Queen's Award emblem on all its packaging. 

The previous Lovehoney ads, featuring couples talking about their positive experiences shopping at Lovehoney, have helped boost annual sales to £55m and profits to increase by 79 per cent to £3.7m. 

Helen Balmer, the Bath-based firm's Brand and Marketing Director, wanted a fresh approach for the new campaign. 

She said: "We've had fantastic feedback through research on the ad from people who say it is exciting, humorous and playful. Everyone who has seen it ends up with a big smile on their face."

The aim is to convert the millions of adults currently considering buying sex toys into Lovehoney customers by showing the added excitement sex toys can bring to a relationship along with the firm's excellent customer service and discreet packaging. 

Award-winning Lovehoney – Britain's biggest online sex toy retailer – was the first sex toy company to advertise on TV. 

It has worked closely with regulators Clearcast and all its ads go out after the 9pm watershed. 

Miss Balmer added: "We work hard with the regulators to create ads appropriate for post-watershed schedules. No sex toys are featured in the new ad, and instead we have lots of innuendo – a staple of British humour.”

Lovehoney started selling sex toys online 14 years ago with stock kept under Mr Longhurst's bed, and now it is a booming international company which holds the worldwide licence to all official Fifty Shades of Grey sex toys and sexual wellbeing products.