The Abstinence Clearinghouse Blog

“Evolve” is the new ad campaign by Trojan Condoms. The television commercial kicking it off is set in a bar populated with gorgeous women and fat pigs (literally). One pig, after being snubbed by a woman at the bar, trots off to the bathroom to purchase a condom from a vending machine. It is immediately transformed into an attractive twenty-something man who slips the condom into his pocket and returns to the bar, where the previously aloof woman turns to him with great attention. Cue the ad slogan: “evolve / use a condom every time”.

The bar is ritzy, the people are models, and the bathroom is clean. It’s a far cry from most condom machines I’ve seen, usually covered with graffiti in gas station loos complete with stained walls, sticky floors, and odd smells. Trojan is trying to paint its campaign as health-conscious, but the ad itself reflects the greater message that condoms are keys to sexual pleasure. They are glamorous and they are sexy, and if you are anybody then you will use one.

According to the ad agency credited with the campaign concept, “We have to change the perception that carrying a condom for women or men is a sign they’re on the prowl and just want to have sex. It’s a sign of somebody being prepared — if the opportunity arises — to think about their own health and the health and safety of their partner” (NY Times).

Yet at no point in the TV commercial is there any reference to sexual health. The point is made that condomless men are pigs, and there will be no room for questions. Perhaps Trojan realized that no real information is better than incorrect information. Some of you might remember the prominent Trojan TV ad from a couple of years ago placing condom use on the same level as sexual abstinence in regards to HIV prevention.

Two networks, CBS and Fox, have refused to air the commercial, even in late night slots. They deemed the content of the ad inappropriate, to which one critic responded,

“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. 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” (NY Times).

For my part, I tend to agree with the above comment. Rather than encouraging these networks to accept all questionable ads, though, I feel as if they should uphold this principle and stop peddling smut. But that’s for a different post.

In the end, regardless of the tactic, Trojan is still degrading men and women alike by claiming that any and all casual sex is OK as long as the man wears a condom. And maybe I’m a cynic, but I find it questionable that a private company controlling 75% of the condom market would think of much else than its profits.

Here’s the New York Times article I’ve been quoting from. You can view the “Evolve” commercial here. And here is a good look at sort of mentality Trojan really has.