Can Condoms Be Too Sexy?

As a regular reader of Hints for Heloise, I am pretty educated on the ridiculous number of uses for regular old baking soda. You can use it to deodorize your fridge and freezer, to remove stubborn stains on plastic surfaces, to put out kitchen fires and also, surprisingly and oddly, to remove plastic from your toaster (somebody with children must have found that one out). So, baking soda is one of those products, like hydrogen peroxide, that has been found to have tons of uses outside what it was originally intended for. Now, I think we can all agree that condoms are just, well, condoms. I’ve never heard of anybody using a condom to disinfect a toilet bowl or to get rid of pesky pet odors. So, it should not come as a surprise that a condom manufacturer would use sexy pictures on the condom package in order to boost sales, right? After all, condoms are in the business of sex.

In India, a controversy over such sexy pictures exists. A Madras high court order had prohibited any type of sexy picture to be printed on condom wrappers since they were felt to be “indecent, obscene” and a complete insult to the Indian culture. However, in mid-September 2008, the Indian Supreme Court ordered that condom wrappers could maintain these sultry images until further notice. Hindustan Latex, the largest marketer and manufacturer of condoms and maker of the sexy condom wrappers, spoke with solicitor general G.E. Vahanvati to help with their marketing strategy after the ban. They cooperated with other condom manufacturers in order to appeal the Madras high court order. Vahanvati stated, “To promote the usage of condoms in a customer friendly manner, Hindustan Latex has adopted the strategy of attractive sales and marketing policy. This strategy has resulted in remarkable sales.” After all, condoms are manufactured for one thing: sex. So why not market them with sexy images, right?

Vahanvati had spilled the beans on the condom trade secret that these sexy images imprinted on the condom wrappers had actually increased condom sales dramatically for Hindustan Latex; however, the Supreme Court was quick to point out that this was not the reason for their ruling. The bench which includes Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices P. Sathasivam and J.M. Panchal pointed out that the real reason behind the ruling was to make sure that condom use is continually encouraged in their country, one that is, along with many other nations, waging a war against the AIDS epidemic.

The original Madras high order that was issued on July 24th, 2008 called for the Advertising Standard Council of India to examine the sultry images that came with the Hindistan Latex manufactured condom wrappers. The order stated that the council was responsible for approving any image on the condom wrapper and that if they opposed it, the company could not use it for marketing.