Ad, depicting a condomless pig, was rejected by Fox and CBS.

Pigs With Cellphones,
but No Condoms

By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN

In a commercial for Trojan condoms that has its premiere tonight, women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs. One shuffles to the men's room, where, after procuring a condom from a vending machine, he is transformed into a head-turner in his 20s. When he returns to the bar, a fetching blond who had been indifferent now smiles at him invitingly. The commercial is entertaining. But it also has a message, spelled out at the end: "Evolve. Use a condom every time."

"We have to change the perception that carrying a condom for women or men is a sign they're on the prowl and just want to have sex," said chief executive of the Kaplan Thaler Group, the New York ad agency that created the "Evolve" campaign. "It's a sign of somebody being prepared - if the opportunity arises - to think about their own health and the health and safety of their partner."

But the pigs did not fly at two of the four networks where Trojan tried to place the ad.

Fox and CBS both rejected the commercial. Both had accepted Trojan's previous campaign, which urged condom use because of the possibility that a partner might be H.I.V.-positive, perhaps unknowingly. A 2001 report about condom advertising by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that, "Some networks draw a strong line between messages about disease prevention - which may be allowed - and those about pregnancy prevention, which may be considered controversial for religious and moral reasons."

Representatives for both Fox and CBS confirmed that they had refused the ads, but declined to comment further.

In a written response to Trojan, though, Fox said that it had rejected the spot because, "Contraceptive advertising must stress health-related uses rather than the prevention of pregnancy."

In its rejection, CBS wrote, "while we understand and appreciate the humor of this creative ad, we do not find it appropriate for our network even with late-night-only restrictions."

"It's so hypocritical for any network in this culture to go all puritanical on the subject of condom use when their programming is so salacious," said Mark Crispin Miller, a media critic who teaches at New York University. "I mean, let's get real here. Fox and CBS and all of them are in the business of nonstop soft porn, but God forbid we should use a condom in the pursuit of sexual pleasure."

Networks accept ads of a not-so-subtle sexual nature for erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, often restricting them to the wee hours.

In its new commercial, the word "Trojan" is never uttered, and the logo appears only briefly on the bathroom's vending machine and at the end.

"With a 75 percent share of the market, we can prioritize growing the category and increasing overall condom usage," Jim Daniels, vice president for marketing, said. "Right now in the U.S. only one in four sex acts involves using a condom. That's dramatically below usage rates in other developed countries. Our goal is to dramatically increase use."

Last year, Trojan issued its first Sexual Health Report Card, grading 100 colleges and universities on criteria including their testing for sexually transmitted diseases, sexual assault courses and, of course, condom availability.

The industry typically tries to reach men, but this campaign's ads are running in Cosmopolitan and Glamour. Trojan sees growth potential in women customers, who make only 30 percent of condom purchases. In 2005 it introduced Elexa, a line of condoms in pastel packages that include what is known in industry parlance as a "pleasure accessory."

excerpted from:
"Pigs With Cellphones, but No Condoms"
By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN
© New York Times June 18, 2007