Case Study
Comfortable Penis
Our client, a trend-setter in underwear design and manufacturing, launched a seamless product in response to complaints about the discomfort of traditional Y-shaped designs.
Men responded positively to the elasticated innovation, but sales did not reflect their voiced enthusiasm. Why did men like it, but not buy it? What could be done to recoup this considerable investment?
Hidden Depth interviews were integrated in a larger research project that also included ethnography and focus groups.
Men wore both the new and traditional product while they were being interviewed, and the techniques were designed to capture non-verbal cognition, the embodiment of emotions, and the unconscious tensions that men felt.
The problem, in fact, did lie deeper. The images selected in research revealed that the new product made men feel emasculated and fragile, while they longed for hardness.
The design was modified in a way that retained the innovative new structure and material, while changing the visual and tactile elements to reduce the sense of femininity.