She has your eyes!

Another condom advertisement, this time the product is from Holland I think, but the advertising agency is in Belgium.

It is apparently so effective that in the first week, traffic to the site increased by 77% and nearly 3000 online orders were placed.

See for yourself.

Update on the need for molecular condom research

If you wonder why it might be needed, read this article in AllAfrica.com, Malawi: Condoms Get a Bad Rap.

Selected quotes:

The least popular form of behaviour change reported by the study was the use of condoms.

despite surveys showing awareness of how HIV is contracted, condom use remains unpopular among Swazis

The conservative nation's top traditional leader, Jim Gama, and Nhlavana Maseko, who heads the Traditional Healers Organisation, have both condemned condoms as "unSwazi".

In Malawi, Kaler noted that "skin-to-skin ejaculation is the marker of a real man - one who uses condoms is being cheated out of his right to a high-grade sexual experience, or may even be the subject of gossip or ridicule"

The molecular condom would be a huge step forward in overcoming the problem, but it's just a pity that the lead time is so great. In the meantime, it must be down to education, education, education.

The incredible melting condom

The title, a great one if a little misleading, has been taken directly from the Economist article .

The problem with condom use, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is that there is often resistance to using one. The idea behind this new research is to provide women with a method of preventing infection that doesn't have to be used immediately before sex, perhaps just once a day.

The research is in its very early stages but has considerable promise. A water-based gel has been developed which changes state from a solid at body temperature and in an acidic environment, such as a vagina, into a liquid when in contact with an alkaline substance, such as semen. It is however liquid at room temperature so a liquid as it is applied which turns to a solid in the vagina, and then, when intercourse takes place, it re-liquefies and releases microbicides held within the structure.

It could take five years before it is ready to be tested in humans, and ten before its use is widespread.

The University of Utah press release gives more detail, and it is also written up in the Scientific American.

Condom testers wanted

Condom manufacturers, Durex, are looking for 5,000 "on the job" condom testers in the UK, the only reward being a chance to win £500 . It is almost impossible to get to the site this evening.

When they advertised in France, they had 14,000 applicants in one day. It must be that advertisement again!