Trojan Evolve is, as far as I can tell, a marketing concept by Trojan to sell more condoms.They want to make using condoms seem very cool and hip, which in general is great. Their main message (played at the end of most videos they make) is "Evolve. Use a Condom Every Time." They advertise for Amplify (on the bottom left of their website), which is awesome!
They sponsor Warped Tour, Spring Break '09, and other events that look very young and hip. I don't know much about what these are, but check out these pictures from their Spring Break 09 event:
I'm not sure how I feel about these photos. Trojans efforts seem to only focus on heterosexual sex and sexual health, and they seem to reinforce many traditional gender roles in some of their material (check out the above photos of the girls on the bar). Part of me thinks that anytime anyone tells people to use condoms it is a good thing. Another part of me thinks that Trojan needs to be more inclusive, and that they should not hypersexualize the roles of women in the way that they do. What do you think? Is making condoms seem cool a good thing automatically, even if they don't do it in the most culturally competent ways?
There is another important question I find myself asking: Is Trojan Evolve just a shameless marketing ploy, or is is a substantive and legitimate attempt to increase condom use and protect people's sexual health? I guess, because they are a condom company, it can be both.
On trojanvideos.com they have funny videos also aimed at making condoms seem cool. This was my favorite:
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I appreciate anyone encouraging contraception usage, but reducing it to this kind of party-hard hedonism makes me uncomfortable.
Play to your strengths, I suppose. Condoms are uniquely suited to that sort of thing compared to other contraceptives because they are instant-use, universally safe(if you use non-latex ones), verifiable to both parties, and protect against disease in ways other methods cannot.
Sexualizing condoms really makes quite a bit of sense particularly when a sizable portion of the population doesn't use them because they don't think they're sexy.
Further its a product which is used during sex (drug running and amphibious landings aside), using sex to sell it is hardly a stretch.
These might be heterosexual oriented but again, differentiating your marketing campaigns based upon sexual orientation when the markets are somewhat different based upon sexual orientation is pretty reasonable.
It's one of the few times advertisers are actually using sex to sell something sexual, as opposed to a burger or car or whatever.
I agree with TD.
We definitely need a reasoned and sober discourse around sexual health including condom use - but nuanced arguments don't make good mottos, rallying cries, or marketing schemes. At some point, it is about selling the condoms (unless you're getting them for free, of course...).
I think that objecting to using sex to sell condoms is a little silly. That's like saying it's bad to use health to sell vitamins.
I don't quite understand your objections to the pictures...? Except that the men in the second one are very idealised body types. The first looks like a snapshot, and the third...is just random there is the girl on the far right sporting bikini bottoms/underwear, but they aren't really being sexualised by their positioning or anything, again: it's a snapshot. I suppose we can object to the fact that on a stage full of women the sole speaker is a man.
I'm also sending that second videos to my boy, because he has some of the same problems they try to help with.
Yes, they should be more inclusive of other sexualities, but I would point out that in the second one they do say "mouth, vagina, or anus" - two of the three don't necessarily involve male + female sex.
On that note, I absolutely love this Durex commericial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH1uo4UcPl4
Haha (oh my goodness! I am guessing that wasn't shown in the US?)
I like the pig one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6krr40mdHM
They sponsor Warped Tour, Spring Break '09, and other events that look very young and hip. I don't know much about what these are...
Warped Tour is a concert of punkish music and Spring Break is basically a giant party put on by MTV. I'm pretty sure those photos are from MTV Spring Break, because the event is all about getting wild in bathing suits. The fact that Trojan has scantily clad people at their kiosk/stage fits pretty well with the theme of Spring Break. I also don't see much of a problem with using sex to sell condoms, as they are used for sex...