Buzz Kill

As soccer mania started building to fever pitch in the run-up to last year's World Cup in Germany, sex shop chain Beate Uhse thought it would take advantage of the near deification of some of the country's national team soccer players.

It marketed two vibrators under the names "Michael B." and "Olli K," which appear to be clear references to Michael Ballack, now a midfielder at Chelsea, and Oliver Kahn, Bayern Munich's goalkeeper.

While probably many women, and more than a few men, instantly felt an erotic frisson at the thought of taking one of the two athletes to bed, the soccer stars themselves were not amused.

They took Beate Uhse to court, charging them with unauthorized use of their names. The two men are not averse to making product endorsements; they just didn't want to do it for free, or maybe for a sex toy.

Just a coincidence, really

For its part, Beate Uhse has always insisted the company was innocent. The vibrators, 17 cm (6.7 inches) long and advertised as "cuddly" and "cheeky," were not modelled on the stars' own, er, equipment. According to Beate Uhse, the company did not mean to convince buyers they were going to be getting to know the men, at least vicariously, up close and very personally.

"We never had any intention to make a connection between the vibrators on sale in our shops with the names of 'Olli K.' and 'Michael B.' and the footballers," company spokesperson Assia Tsernookoff insisted at the time.

Still, Beate Uhse pulled the two models off the shelves after the men fired up their lawyers.

Now a court says the shop has to pay up. Beate Uhse will be sending both of the millionaires 50,000 euros ($67,380) for their trouble.

The incident begs the question if the sex shop chain lost a bit of its business sense by refusing to ask the men permission ahead of time, or if they've lost a sense of what's sexy: Does anyone really want to take Oliver Kahn to bed?