Page 56 - AVN July 2016

by SHERRI L.SHAULIS
FEATURE
Doc Johnson at 40
To stay at the top of the heap, this family business not only kept up
with the changes but took more than a few risks to be an innovator
in North Hollywood, California, he had a vision. He knew what he
In 1976, when Ron Braverman bought a small adult novelty company
wanted to create and what he wanted to do with the company and its
products. But no one, probably not even Braverman himself, could
have imagined the powerhouse Doc Johnson would become four decades
later.
Braverman, founder and CEO of Doc Johnson, was in adult before he
entered the world of adult novelties and pleasure products.
“Early in my career, I got into the adult bookstore business,”
Braverman told AVN. “I was based in Europe at that time, and a few
years after that, I decided to move back to the United States to start an
adult toy business there. The idea to found a sex toy company was largely
based on my time in Europe. It seemed that Europeans had a different
attitude toward the profit potential of the pleasure product industry,
whereas American buyers were still more skeptical. Today, Americans
have largely accepted the pleasure product industry as a legitimate
business, and our success continues to grow both internationally and
domestically.”
The small company Braverman eventually purchased originally sold
some adult toys, as well as gag novelties and rubber fishing items.
“My plan from the beginning was to focus exclusively on creating a
top-quality pleasure products company, with all manufacturing to be kept
in America,” he said. “So, while we had a few novelty items early on, gag
gifts were quickly phased out of the equation. Since day one, we have
always truly been an American pleasure products manufacturer.”
The company’s growth was exponential, and Doc Johnson quickly
came to be known as one of the Founders—five of the largest American
sex toy manufacturers in the early years of the industry; CalExotics,
Pipedream Products, Nasstoys of New York and Topco Sales rounded out
the group. For many years, it wasn’t unusual for stores that sold sex toys
to only stock items from those five companies.
Yet—as they do—times changed. More and more pleasure product
Founding Family Ron Braverman, daughter Erica and son Chad in 2011.
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