Condom ad too hot for TV?
NEW DELHI— The steamy ads featuring a former porn star were apparently the last straw. For months, conservative groups in India have been complaining about condom manufacturers’ risqué ads.
One of the most titillating features Sarnia, Ont.-born Bollywood star Sunny Leone, a former pornographic actress, undressing piece by piece.
India’s government recently stepped in, declaring condom commercials “inde- cent” viewing for children and restricting them to the hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., when relatively few people watch TV.
But progressive social groups said this was a bad move. India, they argue, desperately needs more condom use, not less. The country’s population currently stands around 1.3 billion, and within the next decade India is expected to pass China and become the world’s most populous nation. The government has spent huge amounts of money trying to control the meteoric population growth, incentiviz- ing vasectomies and other forms of birth control. But the rate of condom use is still low — less than 6 per cent among those who use contraceptives.
“We need to reach out to more people with more and more advertising, not less,” said Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India, a private organization. “Condoms are one of the few methods of birth control which prevent HIV and unwanted pregnancies (and) have no side effects.”
Muttreja said the prime-time ban for condom ads was in “direct contradiction to the population policy of the government.” But conservative groups cheered the decision.
“This is India and it has its own culture, and anything related to sex is generally not publicly discussed,” said Bal Krishna Bhartia, president of the Confederation of All India Traders, a business association that started complaining about condom commercials a few months ago.