Ted: new sex symbol for stuffed animal fetishists

MILA KUNIS might have been voted The Sun's sexiest female this year but it is her furry co-star in box office hit Ted who is being held up as a sex symbol.

• R-rated films Magic Mike and Ted top US box office

Animated bear Ted has apparently become a pin-up among 'plushies' – people with a fetish for stuffed animals. Written and voiced by Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane, Ted follows the friendship between Mark Wahlberg's character Johnny and his potty-mouthed teddy bear who has a penchant for pot and prostitutes. Their relationship is tested when Johnny's girlfriend, played by Kunis, becomes tired of Ted's behaviour. But in real life, Ted's character has found some ardent fans. According to TMZ, the nadult entertainment website Clips4Sale.com, which is popular with plushies, has contacted MacFarlane to ask if it can acquire the rights to use Ted's image and make him the site's new mascot. "Not since Alf has there been this kind of excitement over a stuffed animal," they wrote. "We are very serious and would like to engage in talks with you at your earliest convenience." The site also attracts 'furries', people with a fetish for dressing up as stuffed animals, according to one Clips4Sale.com enthusiast who commented on the TMZ story. Ted's fan-base might go some way to explaining the success Ted had at the box office last weekend. It opened as the number one movie in the US, bringing in $54m, beating Magic Mike, Channing Tatum's male-stripper tale. Or as entertainment newspaper The AV Club suggests, the popularity of Ted might go someway to explaining the sexual interests of America. "MacFarlane has yet to respond to the site's "very serious" request," it says, "though hopefully he'll soon realise the importance to a community for whom Ted is essentially their Magic Mike. And actually, considering Magic Mike's second-place finish, this may be all the proof we need that plushies are now America's predominate sexual orientation."

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