At 24 years of age, young, hot New York entrepreneur Eyal Feldman set out to create a personal male lubricant that would be as slick and long-lasting as silicon-based lubricants and clean up as easily as those that are water-based.
He found his answer in a vegetable oil and silicone fusion-based product he termed Boy Butter. Becoming an instant hit, Boy Butter became an instant hit gaining mainstream popularity, and earning the brand coverage in places such as Saturday Night Live, Tonight Show with Jay Leno, MadTV, Comedy Central’s Daily Show and Talk Soup on E!.
Seven years later, Boy Butter continues a one-man show, with Eyal still at the helm with the product now sold in countless brick-and-mortar and online retail stores, including Walgreens and Amazon.com. Not only the creator Eyal is also the face of the product, appearing in most of Boy Butter’s ads and appearing frequently on many radio outlets.
Offering close to 10 different products which include the hugely popular Boy Butter Extreme desensitizing lubricant and You’ll Never Know it Isn’t Boy Butter, which is condom-safe. In addition to lubricant, the brand has also just released a new male enhancement pill, Bonerz, as well a female-friendly lubricant.
But enough about what Boy Butter is, what we want to know is about the man behind this amazing empire and what motivated him to get to where his is today.
You first founded Boy Butter when you were 24 years old, quite an accomplishment for someone so young! What gave you the drive to start your own business?
Ever since I graduated college I felt I wanted to go into business. My father is an entrepreneur, and I wanted to work for myself too. Being my own boss is amazing. Along with the necessary discipline and self-improvement, there is also the payoff of financial freedom, liberty, and my business becomes a vehicle for bettering my life.
Boy Butter has now gone on to become a major player in the personal lubricant industry, having appeared on major TV shows, such as Saturday Night Live and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. When did you first realize the brand had become a household name? How did you feel?
I knew from the first day that I uttered the name “Boy Butter” that it would be a success, because the name is hilarious and held such great potential for the market. Boy Butter can be both a novelty product and a seriously good and useful product for personal use. It fulfills so many needs for so many, especially gay men. People love the name, and as soon as you make a customer smile or laugh, a sale will soon follow. I produce an excellent product that is the perfect combination of good marketing, novelty and utility. I feel ecstatic about Boy Butter. It is endless with legs and extensions, and will always be a fun product to deal with, on so many levels.
There was also a need to resurrect cream-form lubricants from the 1970s and early 80s which were shelved due to not being latex-safe. Since creams traditionally are oil-based and “Safe Sex” became necessary, the market became latex-safe and water-based lubricant dominant.
What makes Boy Butter stand out from other lubricant brands on the market today?
Boy Butter stands out in several ways. Firstly, we present Boy Butter Lubricants in non-sexual food type packaging, because it disarms any sexual squeamishness in people and makes it a true novelty product fit for the best gag gift or bedroom necessity. Secondly, in the sense of the actual lubricant itself, Boy Butter Lubricants comes in a cream form. We have both oil-based (Original Boy Butter) and water-based styles (You’ll Never Know it Isn’t Boy Butter, the first ever stable water-based and latex-safe cream lubricant we invented in late-2006), which are totally latex and vaginally safe; a first with cream lubricants. I love creams best because they last longer than water-based lubricants, feel better on the skin and best of all wash off with water alone. The easy clean up means no more “shame stains” on surfaces or fabrics that are associated with overpowering and messy silicone lubricants.
Boy Butter’s consistency is much different from other brands — it is creamy, and just as the title describes, like butter. What benefit do those who use Boy Butter gain from using a lubricant with this type of texture and viscosity?
Creams can last almost as long as silicone lubricants, feel more natural and wash off as easy as any water based lubricant. It has all the benefits without any of the drawbacks from other lubricants on the market.
You now have quite a few different lines, including a warming lubricant, an extreme desensitizing liquid, a female-friendly lubricant called Lucky, and variations of most of those, which are water-based, called H2O. How often do you released new lines, and what is your most popular line to date?
We come out with new products or sizes every six months to a year. To date we have almost 30 different products, sizes and styles. Our most popular product is still the Original 16-ounce Boy Butter, the first product I ever came out with. But the desensitizing is a close second and third in popularity. People love the desensitizing for many reasons: they either want to increase the comfort associated with sexual penetration or they simply want to combat the ill and annoying effects of premature ejaculation.
Boy Butter also just released a product called Bonerz, which is a male enhancement pill. What gave you the inspiration to put out a non-lubricant product? Do you feel it detracts from the focus of what your brand is known for, or do you think it helps?
No not at all. I love Boy Butter Bonerz. It is a non-lubricant, which enhances our lubricant products, because male enhancement goes hand-in-hand, pun intended, with lubricant use. I’ll tell you, since the advent of male enhancement products like Viagra back in 1999, it revolutionized and quadrupled the personal lubricant industry, causing a real need to deal with all that extra friction.
What does a gay male consumer look for in a lubricant, that is different from a straight male? Or is it the same across the board?
Gay men usually will go for a longer-lasting product and are more open to varied types of lubricants, and straight men generally look for lubricants that are safe to use with women. Women self-lubricate so that alleviates much of the need for lubricants for straight men.
Why did you decide to start a line called Lucky, that caters to a woman’s needs? How do you feel about older people using your product? What made you choose that specific name?
When we created the first cream lubricant that was water-based, it became the first cream lubricant that women could use vaginally. Some older women do not lubricate sufficiently and really need long-lasting lubricants. I decided to expand to that market and I thought Lucky was a simple and clear name. Older people are the fastest growing segment of the population that is becoming more sexually active and like I said, previously Viagra changed the world and created so many more people with personal lubricant needs that did not exist before, I wanted to reach them.
If you could pick three celebrity spokesmen for your brand, who would you pick?
Well, Kathy Griffin because she is so gay friendly, Mel Gibson because he creates so much friction, and Lady Gaga because she is the bee’s knees.
What can loyal Boy Butter users expect to see from the brand next?
I think that a pink-labeled girl version of Boy Butter called Boy Butter for Girls is due next.
Hedda Lettuce is so much fun to watch when she does commercials for Boy Butter. MMM MOMMY! Will she be doing any more?
Oh absolutely! We love Hedda Lettuce because, like Boy Butter, she is the fusion of beauty and novelty.
What is your personal favorite Boy Butter product?
I love Boy Butter original because it makes masturbation and sex feel incredible.
