When viral tweets and news articles about the Olympic Village¡¯s ¡°anti-sex beds¡± began to spread shortly before the start of the Tokyo Games, Airweave CEO Motokuni Takaoka knew that it would do no good to put out a hasty denial.

Instead, the event¡¯s official bedding supplier decided to let the athletes do the talking, leading to a series of viral videos that have made the company¡¯s product an online sensation ¡ª even if it wasn¡¯t for quite the reasons it had hoped for.

¡°We didn¡¯t expect the cardboard beds to go viral like they did,¡± Takaoka told The Japan Times on Sunday at the company¡¯s showroom in Tokyo¡¯s Otemachi district. ¡°It¡¯s something that we hadn¡¯t given a thought to, hadn¡¯t anticipated at all.¡±