Condom Marketing Evolves

A new Trojan Condoms ad has been rejected by both Fox and CBS. The ad, which can be viewed in full here, depicts a bar full of attractive women and large pigs hitting on them. The women, smartly, reject the pigs. Then one pig gets up from the bar, goes to the bathroom, buys a condom and turns into a handsome man, who then gets the attention of the woman at the bar. The ad ends with text that says “Evolve: use a condom every time.

So what’s the problem?

Fox and CBS both rejected the commercial. Both had accepted Trojan’s previous campaign, which urged condom use because of the possibility that a partner might be H.I.V.-positive, perhaps unknowingly. A 2001 report about condom advertising by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that, “Some networks draw a strong line between messages about disease prevention — which may be allowed — and those about pregnancy prevention, which may be considered controversial for religious and moral reasons.”

Representatives for both Fox and CBS confirmed that they had refused the ads, but declined to comment further.

In a written response to Trojan, though, Fox said that it had rejected the spot because, “Contraceptive advertising must stress health-related uses rather than the prevention of pregnancy.”

In its rejection, CBS wrote, “while we understand and appreciate the humor of this creative, we do not find it appropriate for our network even with late-night-only restrictions.”

“It’s so hypocritical for any network in this culture to go all puritanical on the subject of condom use when their programming is so salacious,” said Mark Crispin Miller, a media critic who teaches at New York University. “I mean, let’s get real here. Fox and CBS and all of them are in the business of nonstop soft porn, but God forbid we should use a condom in the pursuit of sexual pleasure.”

Firstly, let me just say that I don’t see how the ad is about preventing pregnancy more than STDs. Neither one is explicitly mentioned, and when it comes to picking up people in a bar, I associate condoms much more with STD prevention than pregnancy.

Secondly, the fact that they would reject this ad is bullshit. Have either of these networks every turned down an Axe commercial? I highly doubt it.

As for the ad itself, I haven’t made up my mind 100%, but I think that I like it. It’s far from perfect, since it does involve the guy “getting the hot babe.” It also portrays guys as pigs, but only the guys who are sexually unsafe. The fact is, condom ads are usually about protecting yourself– the “evolve” message is about how using a condom is the right thing to do because it protects your partner. That’s a really healthy and fairly revolutionary message for mainstream television.

The Trojan evolve site is pretty cool, too. Several times you’ll see the phrase “America is not a sexually healthy nation.” That is a revolutionary message, and it’s 100% true. Americans are afraid of/obsessed with sex, they’re terrified of condoms, they’re judgmental of others’ sexual activity, and all of that results in the high number of unplanned pregnancies and STDs that we see in this country. The fact that Trojan explicitly points that out is great.

Yes, they’re selling me a product. But as far as product-pushers go, Trojan seems to be pretty good. Remember that they also make Elexa condoms, the supposedly first male condom designed with women in mind. Are they trying to expand their market and get women to buy condoms? Of course. But we’re not talking face cream, here. We’re talking products that women actually should be using. I’m not going to begrudge any company that is trying to improve women’s health, particularly women’s sexual health, and trying to remove the stigma of women buying condoms. In fact, they’re going to get nothing but applause from me.

So what is this commercial rejection about? Could it be that it’s an ad about condoms that, though lighthearted, portrays a genuine sexually healthy message without trying to scare the hell out of people? Hmm.

“We always find it funny that you can use sex to sell jewelry and cars, but you can’t use sex to sell condoms,” said Carol Carrozza, vice president of marketing for Ansell Healthcare, which makes LifeStyles condoms. “When you’re marketing condoms, something even remotely suggestive gets an overly analytical eye when it’s going before networks’ review boards.”

What are your thoughts?