The Durex ad that I didn't need to see on World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. And while many great attempts have been made by social marketers to get people to practice safer sex, the sexual transmission of HIV continues at a worrying pace.

The biggest barrier is that fact that nobody really likes condom sex better than bare sex. "Shower in a raincoat," etc. It will always be seen as a sensory compromise, even if it can improve length of performance or allow a more relaxed response by offering peace of mind.

And even the condom manufacturers know it:

This ad was featured today in Photoshop Disasters, because of the badly altered hand, but I found the concept itself gave me pause.

So, apparently, did @sidgestion, who Tweeted another version of the ad with the comment, "you can leave her pleasantly puzzled - do I need to get an abortion?"

Indeed, the ad seems wrong on so many levels. That a woman would muse about whether her partner used a condom or not brings up all kinds of questions about sexual health, consent, and plain old respect in the bedroom. It implies that she really would rather you forwent the Jimmy cap and jumped in au naturel, no matter what she has said to the contrary. In some ways, this is as bad as "no means yes".

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just a stupid ad. But in a world where some men would rather have their foreskins cut off than wear a condom, I don't think it's helping the cause any.

Digital Love, for safer sex

If you have headphones and a private screen, or are otherwise in a liberated work or home environment, try out this new interactive safe sex experience by Buzzman, Paris:

Digital Love (new window)

The video allows you to choose a partner by sex and geographical population group (with non-Arab Africa conspicuously absent) and then sets you up for hot cybering.

This incredible online experience is brought to you by Digital Love Corporation, who are on a mission to give people everywhere an opportunity to experience safer orgasms.

Yeah, of course it's an ad. For Durex. Although watching attractive people get all hot and bothered on a computer screen will probably lead to a much lower tech (and even safer) version of "digital love" — if you know what I mean.

Durex fortune teller says "cover your little feller"

Ads of The World just posted this nice ambient ad infiltration by Durex in Taiwan:



An interesting case of manipulating cultural predispositions. According to the case study, Taiwanese youth don't want to talk about condoms or sex, but are obsessed with having their fortunes told. So the agency (Ogilvy) built an old-school fortune booth that distributed condoms and warnings about unsafe sex.

Clever. The ending looks pretty staged, but still clever.