The condom exhibition is organized in partnership with the makers of Trojan Brand Condoms one of the leading brands in the US.

Opening on February 4, 2010, this exhibition takes a fun, functional, and fundamental look at the history and progression of the condom from a single object to its role a multidisciplinary artifact:

Influencing everything from science to art to politics and religion, the condom, which has remained at the epicenter of debate since its inception, rose from its humble beginnings to become a barometer of morality and a savior in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The exhibition also includes the marriage of function and fashion with the inclusion of Adriana Bertini’s couture condom cocktail dress, made from 1200 hand dyed condoms and fashioned after the Valentino dresses of the 1960s, trendy and contemporary condoms from renowned designers such as Marc Jacobs, as well as “condiments,” functional salt and pepper shakers designed and molded after condoms.

Fortunately, the Museum lets us show some of their exhibition highlights already here and now:

Adriana Bertini’s Couture Condom Cocktail Dress
Made and images by Adriana Bertini.

Blossom by Randy Polumbo

Franco B’s resin condom sculpture
Photographed b Igor Khodzinskiy.

Cruel Condom
Belonging to the Museum of Sex collection. Design by Scott Paul.

So if you’re in New York from February 4, 2010, you’ll know what to do!

Sincere thanks to Jessica.

Sagami Rubber has been awarded gold in both the film category and the PR category for their website and film entitled “LOVE DISTANCE – Our distance, a billion millimeters,” created back in October 2008.

The storyline goes like this: A couple, separated by a long distance, run to meet each other at a point halfway between them. The whole journey was being documented on the website for everyone to watch during one month (Images of the two were broadcast live on the internet for one month until the moment they met and embraced at the midpoint).

The couple featured in the movie were actually dating for 2 and a half years already and chosen for the adventure: They had to run a 1,000,000,000 mm (1,000 km) marathon, one starting from Tokyo and the other from Fukuoka.

Live Route Map

Here’s the movie:

To show you how successful this ad was in Japan let me quote some of the results…

TV programs featured this event and created a buzz, which not only spread in Japan but spread abroad as well. There were over 100,000 users accessing the site on the day of the reveal, as all were eager to know the name of the client and the product.

and some more details about the execution…

The couple’s locations were marked on an internet map through GPS and users could go and cheer them on the streets and send them fax messages via the internet to show their support. (…) The men’s site and the women’s site were created separately. Users, unaware that once their gender is chosen, would not be able to share the other gender’s site, due to answering the gender question asked of them when they first visited the site. On Christmas eve, the day of the finale, the men’s site and the women’s site came together as one, as the couple embraced each other.

To date, the website has received 8 awards in 5 advertising contests. Some of the other awards include:

• A Yellow Pencil in Digital Advertising Campaigns from the Online Advertising
  Category for D&AD Awards 2009
• The Best in ADFEST’s CBC 16 Best Integrated Cyber Category
• Bronze Medal in One Show Interactive’s Microsites

Sincere thanks to Evan.

Christian Vieri and Milan football club legend Paolo Maldini now officially have their own condom brand. They’ve launched the limited edition of their rubbers in a press conference this week.

Akuel Blues Sweet Years Limited Edition is obviously limited to a certain period to their fashion label Sweet Years they started a few years back.

The goal for this campaign (apart from always being incredibly great press) is to support and donate all proceeds to a youth sex education project.

By the way, just in case you have some condoms to spare and don’t know what to do with them, how about using them as football socks?

Currently, Durex accounts for approximately 29% of the global branded condom market. The company sells condoms in over 130 countries worldwide and is the market leader in more than 40 markets. That’s the perfect base for the company’s yearly surveys.

There’s another one just coming up at the UK’s National Condom Week of 18 – 24 May 2009 and Durex is hoping to address the biggest possible number of people through a newly set up Facebook group:

“Durex is kicking off National Condom Week (18 – 24 May 2009) by launching what it hopes will be the biggest ever insight into the sexual habits and practices of the nation. Please go to one of the websites below to take part and stand the chance of winning great prizes. And invite as many people as possible to join this group. Findings will be published with a national news partner later this year.“

If you want to be part of this join the the British Sex Survey or the facebook group. Goody bags were up for grabs for the ones who invited their friends, but they are all gone by now.

MTV’s Staying Alive Foundation and The Body Shop have launched the extended HIV prevention campaign Say Yes to Safe Sex last week. We have the pics of the NYC launch event with – Durex and Solange Knowles.

The Body Shop and Solange Knowles launched the campaign coupled with free in store Durex condom hand outs as part of the global HIV/AIDS safe sex campaign in conjunction with MTV Networks. To get lips moving about this vital issue, The Body Shop now sells their “Tantalizing Lip Butter” to help raise funds for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

Approximately $5 from every purchase of the fruity lip butter will benefit the Staying Alive Foundation, a charity empowering young people around the world to protect themselves and their communities against HIV and AIDS.

To make sure the campaign reaches as many people as possible they have now opened the dedicated interactive site www.yestosafesex.com to involve visitors and encourage them to share the word (through facebook in particular as it seems).

“We felt it was imperative to encourage a discussion on safe sex even it meant causing a bit of a commotion. We hope this campaign educates consumers on the importance of safe sex and knowing your status”, stated Phil Kowalczyk, President of The Body Shop Americas.

Durex on their part are giving away free condoms (until the supply runs out) with every purchase of the Tantalizing Lip Butter/Yes, Yes, Yes to Safe Sex Campaign product. Markets with free condoms include NY, San Francisco, Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle and Toronto.

With campaigns like this MTV and The Body Shop have raised more than $2 million for the Staying Alive Foundation over the last two years. This funding has provided grants to young people to work on HIV prevention efforts amongst their peers at a grass-root level.

Launch Party in NYC – Solange up front

In front of NYC Store

Body Shop Team with the Naked Cowboy

See the rest of the pictures in our flickr account.

And if we learn anything from this, then HIV is still deadly and on the rise. With research showing over 3,000 new HIV infections daily among young adults ages 15-24, the campaign is designed to target young people taking risks with their own health and that of their sexual partners.

Product Image Copyright 2009 The Body Shop International Plc.

At times you’ve got to ask yourself: where am I supposed to hide that condom thing (of course you might choose not to hide but to show them off in a big plastic condom bag also)? And often you might get tempted to just put it somewhere in your wallet.

The only problem is that your wallet is not made for this – it will crush your life insurance in no time. That’s what Christopher Leo thought, so he quickly designed a condom friendly wallet, where the condom is the star and may be hidden behind your credit cards.

So next time you try to hide a rubber in your wallet, remember there’s someone out there owning this technology since January 2009. I imagine this technology helps in two ways – a bigger wallet makes you look more desirable (ok hopefully not) and the protection is there at your service, too.

Unfortunately there’s not much information on how this should work, but the pictures will at least give you a slight idea. And just in case it ever hits a store, we’ll let the world know.

Front Elevational View

Top Plan and Bottom Plan View

In case you didn’t know, there’s pretty much ANYTHING you can imagine in the condom patent world!

Let’s assume you’re getting to know a lot of people at a party or a business meeting. How can you possibly store all of their contact information in an easy way (even more now that everyone has at least 10 different online social network profiles and no one’s asking for phone numbers anymore)? Enters Poken a cute little usb device that you’re going to carry on you from now on.

The little pandas, aliens or geishas (at the time being there are 8 designs) will store all of your networking information and upon “high fiving” another Poken you’ll exchange addresses and may connect online later. Later, meaning whenever you have any computer with Internet access ready, you can sync your contacts to your own profiles without much further ado.

Your bee will store up to 64 contacts and keep them handy for you.

Here’s how Poken communicates with you about its capacity:

Each time you successfully poken the little palm will glow green. It will blink red if you did not poken successfully, in which case, just wait a few seconds for the glowing to disappear and try again. When you have four or less contacts left to store on your Poken the palm will glow orange after you’ve pokened.

Poken is relatively new and hence its user base is rather small in the US and the UK for example. But sure enough, once it takes on it spreads fast, as in the Netherlands where it’s all the rage at the moment. You can see that by checking the latest google maps/Poken mashup which shows the recently active Pokens.

Other tools than the maps mashup include:

• A Firefox toolbar
• An application starter

Let’s have a look at the 8 initial Poken designs:

The Geisha
The Poken hand pulls out of the body, revealing a USB connector. Insert the USB connector into any computer with web access to easily upload your new contacts to the Poken web database.

Baby Poken

Fox Poken

Gorilla Poken

Voodoo Poken

Bee Poken

Panda Poken

Alien Poken

Individual Pokens can be bought from online retailers for around EUR 15. If you want to actively share the Poken love then you might enjoy to get a 12 pack from the company itself.

While I’m sure such an interactive way of exchanging user information will be the future for offline/online syncs, it will be interesting to see wether Poken can actually mobilise a critical number of users to make this concept a hit. Also we’ll be watching the development closely in this area. Will they offer other products for business users? Or maybe just other, even easier ways to accomplish this task?

Honestly I would get a pair of Pokens only because of their distinctive, cute look. Certainly an interesting marketing move.

We have word that Sagami released a new model for the Japanese market just in time for Valentine’s Day, 14th of February 2009.

The product is called Sagami Original 0.02 Premium and is supposed to be the thinnest polyurethane condom available on the market. It is an addition to their preexisting product family Sagami Original Premium (as you may have guessed).

What makes it really special is the price tag of about 2000 Yen (22 USD) for 4 pieces. The black look gives it some sort of luxury aura.

Some of the advantages reported by Sagami are:

• Biocompatibility
• Very thin 0,02 mm (opposed to a standart of about 0,45-0,70 mm)
• Stronger than latex
• No latex smell
• Conducts warmth better
• Special packaging

I will report more as soon as we have the samples.

Sincere thanks to Evan

It’s a heart-shaped window display made of approximately 400 red condoms smiling at visitors on the first floor of the mall since the beginning of this week.

According to msnbc the condom heart is accompanied by the words “Give love get love,” “Practice safe love” and “Armani Exchange supports national AIDS fund.”

Update 3.2.09: As suspected, this is the regular display of all Armani Exchange stores and not only the one at the Sacramento mall. Thanks to Anna for letting us know.

Picture credits iirraa.

“Mizuno Garden” is a paradise of erotic fantasy where the fruits of love are always ripe. The crops include beautiful lingerie, costumes, condoms, lotions, vibrators, and more!

At the moment there are only the condoms and the lube, but many of the other “crops” are supposed to come later.

Junko Mizuno is a japanese illustrator and manga artist. Many of her female character works are characterized by large eyes, long flowing and wildly colored hair, and prominently displayed cleavage (as in this case).

Mizuno Garden the Characters

The characters printed onto the packages are seriously entertaining. Kondo-Chan and Gaiko-Kun are featured on the condom boxes, Seiko-San, the red lady on the lubes. Here’s what they mean:

Kondo-Chan – A girl with a strong passion and curiosity for condoms. She gets furious when a guy refuses to put on a condom in bed.

Gaiko-Kun – A longtime boyfriend of Kondo-Chan. He has a secret desire for trying on his girlfriend’s pretty lingerie but has been too shy to bring it up to her.

Seiko-San – Her name starts with the chinese character that means “sex”. Just as the name says, her head is always full of erotic fantasy. She is the admiration of every man at work but is still waiting for the right one who is mature and strong.

Mizuno Garden Products

Mizuno Garden Condoms Packaging

Mizuno Garden Condom Wrappers

Mizuno Garden Condoms

Mizuno Garden Lube Packaging

Mizuno Garden Lube Foils

Mizuno Garden Lube

So if you want to cover yourself in a piece of art/manga then the Mizuno Garden style is for you!

Via Patrick Macias. Thanks MizunoGarden.

These times of prosperity for condom marketers/producers might just be the perfect takeover time. And sure enough we’ve been sent a tip about a possible Legends Condoms sale in Australia. Legends are known for their neat packaging and sell about 4000 tins of condoms a month.

Lately the brand received a lot of publicity because of its plan to showcase controversial artist Hazel Dooney’s work on their condom boxes (it never came to being though). Legends condoms are also the first condoms in the world to be awarded cruelty-free certification from PETA, stating that there’s no animal testing involved in the production of this product.

There are ten various designs for the condom tins that are made in China and Malaysia. In 2007 Legends won a bronze medal for their product in the Packaging Design Awards. Now, in 2009, there two interested purchasers of Legend Rubbers and we might see them in new hands as soon as in two month’s time.

As a spokesperson for the campaign “Hombres de Verdad” (Men of Truth) the beauty queen visited Nicaragua and its capital Managua this week. The campaign is part of No todos los hombres son iguales by PASMO (Organización Panamericana de Mercadeo Social) a social marketing entity active in Central America.

On Wednesday she reminded the Central American men not to forget to use condoms because this might save their lifes and the ones of their partners. She added that, everyone could get HIV because AIDS hasn’t got a face (“cara”), color or any other form of looks.

As a matter of fact that is an important point many people seem to forget. Can you tell someone has AIDS or any other STDs? For everyone who’s unsure about the question raised, visit the link and let Posornot.com by MTV Networks give you the answers.

Dayana Mendoza is leaving Nicaragua today, however the rest of the world can hope to see her in her role as a spokesperson for this campaign. Venezuela, El Salvador, Europe and the USA are on her list next.

And because she’s so beautiful and sharing such an important message here are some pictures of the event in Managua, Nicaragua.

Dayana Mendoza for Pasmo

Pasmo is part of the organisation PSI, a nonprofit in the health area.

Dayana with the Red Ribbon

Dayana with Campaign Officials
On the left direcor of PASMO Nicaragua Dr. Moncada, right an official of the Department of Health.

Via HoyMujer/EFE. Sincere thanks and picture credits Jorge Mejía Peralta/Nicaragua.

As the NY Post reports the request for the trademark registration now lies before the US Patent and Trademark Office and “has 9/11 families howling and the tower’s owner, the Port Authority, scrambling to block it”.

While at the time it’s doubtful if the request for the registration of the trademark will be granted for the US with the Port Authority looking to block it, but the trademarks for many European countries is already a fact.

That means nothing else than we can expect to see Freedom Tower branded condoms, sweatshirts and sweets in the future.

Freedom Tower Make Love not War

The trademark registration has been registered in 2007.

Freedom Tower Product Details

The list of possible products is long:

• Category 10: Condoms
• Category 25: T-shirts, sweatshirts, footwear etc.
• Category 30: Ice-cream, sweets, crackers etc.

It looks like there might be a vast range of products called Freedom Tower Make Love not War in Europe soon enough. If the condoms ever come to be, you’ll be the first to know.

Just a few days ago we got an interesting comment on condomunity.com from a user (called Conxband) who’s looking for investments for the patent 6,453,903 B1 – Condom with Constrictive Band about Opening. Because the comment was a bit off-topic i decided to give it a whole post.

That’s the comment by Conxband:

View the United States Patent for the Condom that is the first significant change in condoms in 75 years. It has both medical implications along with performance implications. Patent 6,453,903 B1 I am looking for either an angel investor or a leaseing /sale equation.

Condom with Constrictive Band about Opening

Here’s what the patent’s about:

A condom is described having a broad constrictive band adjacent the proximal end in order to maintain the blood supply in the erect penis and thereby maintain and prolong the erection. The proximal constrictive band is molded integral with the latex condom material or formed as a separate band ol a rubber material. The separate band may be adhesively attached or solvent welded to the latex condom. Alternatively, the band may be used separate from the condom.

• Patent number: 6453903
• Filing date: Jul 13, 2001
• Issue date: Sep 24, 2002
• Inventors: Kirtis Thomas, III

So anyone who does not know what to do with his money, this might be an idea. For everyone else there’s lots of silly, hilarious and genious patents to be discovered.

We took a first exclusive look at the outcome:

My.Size are condoms that come in 6 various sizes from 47 mm to 64 mm in width or from 160 mm to 223 mm in length. Even the wrappers are differently sized.

My.Size Sizes

The 6 sizes come with recommendations for a first orientation. It’s recommended to test the condom sizes, in order to find out which one fits you best.

• Width: 47 mm Length: 160 mm
• Width: 49 mm Length: 163 mm
• Width: 53 mm Length: 178 mm
• Width: 57 mm Length: 178 mm
• Width: 60 mm Length: 193 mm
• Width: 64 mm Length: 223 mm

Now at the moment these individually sized condoms are only available in a few countries like Germany, Switzerland and Austria along with France and Italy. But as time goes by the distribution network will grow and other countries will be added to the list. We’ll be keeping an eye on it for you.