BRAND PROTECTION
Trojan maker’s campaign targets women, but some say it shifts responsibility to them
Condom maker switches gear, aiming its campaign toward women,
It seemed like a sensible advertising strategy. When a company discovered that women accounted for less than one-third of the purchases of its products, it shifted direction to appeal more directly to them.
But when the company is the largest condom seller in the United States, at a time of heightened divisiveness regarding reproductive rights and women’s health, the situation can get a little more complicated.
That is not stopping Church & Dwight Co., the makers of Trojan condoms, from unveiling a campaign that it considers the most ambitious in the brand’s history. It includes 30second commercials that will air during prime time on CBS and NBC — a first for Trojan — as well as on networks such as MTV, VH1, Bravo and Comedy Central. In early June, Trojan will be featured at the top of YouTube for 24 hours.
The campaign introduces a new product, XOXO, that is basically a typical condom. But it comes in more gender-neutral purple packaging and includes a carrying case that could slip easily (and discreetly) into a purse.
The marketing for XOXO is also intended to convey a sense of shared responsibility when it comes to safe sex. The ads, made by the Joey Co., feature couples kissing intimately on doorsteps and a pier, along with a female voice-over.
But it is a perilous time for brands, in which social media outrage can be prompted with one misstep. Witness the recent vociferous criticism aimed at Pepsi after it released an ad that invoked the Black Lives Matter movement. Similarly, after the Women’s March and political debates over funding for organizations such as Planned Parenthood, Trojan is trying out its new campaign in a potentially unforgiving environment.
Could some see it as suggesting that it is a woman’s responsibility to ensure that she and her partner practice safe sex?
Bruce Weiss, the brand’s vice-president of marketing, said he was not overly concerned about people misinterpreting Trojan’s message.
“We consistently hear from people as they shop for condoms, especially from women, that they feel the weight of everyone’s eyes on them when they purchase condoms,” Weiss said. “There is a big embarrassment factor.”
According to a 2016 study by the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University, which was funded by Trojan, 68 per cent of women disagreed that it was solely the man’s responsibility to buy a condom, though only 18 per cent of women claimed to have purchased the condom for their most recent sexual experience.
Sixty-five per cent of the women surveyed said they had never bought a condom.
Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute of Reproductive Health, said the notion that women might be encouraged to buy more condoms was not necessarily a bad thing — as long as there was still an agreement between partners to engage in safe sex.
“The fact that it’s predominantly considered a male method of contraception,” Miller said, “it’s not surprising that it is predominantly men that are purchasing it.”
Naomi Wolf, an author of several books that have focused on female sexuality, said she applauded the effort as empowering for women and a welcome departure from the traditional male-oriented condom ads, which she likened to commercials for Gillette men’s razors. She also noted that law enforcement officers in New York state could use possession of a condom as evidence of prostitution.
“It wonderfully addresses women as adults who can take responsibility, not victims of whatever the guy happens to have in his pocket or not,” Wolf said. “It addresses women as adults who are thinking about their sexual health.”
But others wonder if Trojan, which is placing advertisements in femaleoriented magazines such as Glamour and Cosmopolitan, is reinforcing a notion that women should bear even more responsibility for providing their partners safe sex.
Heidi Sieck, founder of Vote Pro Choice, a political action platform, said the timing of Trojan’s campaign could come off as insensitive within the current political climate.
“At a time when repressive legislation restricting our reproductive rights and choices are at an all-time high, Trojan asks women to take responsibility for birth control and STD protection for their partners,” Sieck wrote in an email.
“If Trojan really valued women owning our sexuality and celebrating our reproductive freedoms, then highlighting the need to preserve these rights should lead any future marketing campaigns.”
It is not the first time Trojan has released a product with the aim of gaining more female consumers. In 2005, it introduced Elexa, a line of condoms in pastel packages that was mainly sold in the feminine hygiene aisle. It was discontinued after a few years.
Weiss said that while the company was trying to reduce the condom-buying disparity between men and women, it did not want to discourage men from continuing to purchase prophylactics.
If that is indeed the message viewers take home, Miller said, she will consider Trojan’s effort a success.
“To the extent that this encourages women to be empowered and take the initiative to ensure or even demand that their sexual partners use condoms,” Miller said, “then I think it’s a good thing.”