The Instagram personality said she never gave the firm permission to create a life-sized sex toy in her likeness
An Israeli Instagram model is seeking legal action after a Chinese company produced a sex doll in her likeness. The life-sized toy has her beauty mark under the lip and even shares her name.
Speaking to the UK’s ITV news on Monday, Yael Cohen Aris, 25, said she was dismayed to find out that a Chinese firm, Irontech Dolls, was marketing a sex doll with her head on it.
Cohen Aris said she was first alerted by a fan in 2019 who directed her to a forum where there were discussions about building a sex doll in her image. However, last year she was shocked to find that a Chinese company had gone ahead with making the doll.
Cohen Aris told ITV that there was no doubt that she was unwittingly the inspiration for the doll and would be seeking a legal outcome.
The sex toy features her hair, facial structure, eyeglasses, and beauty mark and has even been named “Yael.” Furthermore, the product was also being advertised using real life images of the Instagram model.
“It’s not just about a beauty mark and my name,” she told ITV’s This Morning show, adding “because sex dolls are still just dolls and there is a limit to how much they can look like a human being, but once it was connected to my identity and image and videos, social media, there is no mistake here.”
Cohen Aris said that she doesn’t have a problem with the sex doll industry, but claimed she was angered that her identity had been used without consent. “It’s doubly wrong because it’s connected to my identity — it’s not just a doll that looks like me or inspired by me; they never hid the fact it’s developed from me,” she stated.
A spokesperson for Irontech Dolls told the Daily Mail that similarities between the sex toy and Israeli model were just a “coincidence,” but added that they would drop the name “Yael.”
“We will inform all the partners to stop using this name and also using any photos relating to her,” the Irontech Dolls spokesperson added.
As of Tuesday, the sex toy is still being marketed as “Yael.”
The toy comes with an internal skeleton and detachable heads that can be switched. A full Irontech Doll complete with a ‘Yael’ head is currently being marketed on websites for over $1,400, according to the Times of Israel.
