Rampant Rabbit ‘Original’ battery powered vibrator, in pink plastic, with various adjustable vibration functions, made by Ann Summers, 2008.

Vibrators, mechanical and electrical devices that vibrate and massage, have a long history as popular medical devices designed to treat a wide range of conditions, from gout to nervous complaints. In the 20th century ‘vibrators’ became more commonly associated with sex and masturbation.

This type of rabbit vibrator was first developed by Vibratex in Japan in the 1980s. In order to work around local obscenity laws, several similar styles of vibrators were designed that used bright colours to avoid too close a resemblance to human anatomy. Each was named after an animal, and they were notably the first vibrators to provide both internal and external stimulation at the same time.

The rabbit design caught on most and soon many international retailers were selling their own versions of this vibrator. UK adult goods retailer, Ann Summers, first sold their version - The Rampant Rabbit in the late 1990s. When Ann Summers launched their first website in 1999, they sold more than one million rabbit vibrators in the first year. A combination of their availability through online shopping, and the featuring of the rabbit vibrator an episode of the popular TV series Sex and the City in 1998, made them one of the most popular vibrators available on the high street.

As this 2008 vibrator shows, this style has remained popular and there continued to be improvements and tweaks to its design.