Durex: Overcoming Product Embarrasement and

Improving Relevance to Youth

Student Names:

Ayush Agarwal 180103059

Ruturaj Birje 180103171

Samar Jain 180103181

Soujanya Das 180103220

Soumita Rakshit 180103222

Urvika Agrawal 180103242

Abstract
With the evolution of internet and its increasing penetration across the world, people in
different countries especially those tagged under: developing or under-developed are now
exposed to content different than what conventionally they have been to seeing. Different
issues cropping up across the world, the debates encircling those issues are all available at a
single-touch. As people’s life-styles are evolving, markets are developing, so those problems
which once solely used to be a matter of concern in the developed nations have now become
a part of immediate attention in the ‘not-so-developed’ nations as well. One such problem is
related to ‘use of condoms’ while having sex which translates into a safe practice for both the
genders in general but a concern for female sexual health in particular. Condoms are still
considered as an embarrassing product in today’s world. Embarrassing products are those
which causes one to feel self-conscious or ill at ease while buying. These products include
Head lice shampoo, anti-fungal medicines and foot powders, Viagra, large quantities of
alcohol, condoms, pornographic magazines, etc. People still don’t buy these products only.
They tend to add other items along with it in their order, even if they don’t need them. They
usually prefer vending machines for these items rather than retail stores. There are certain
requirements to sell these products like- salesperson is not required, the atmosphere of the
store should be cold, the letters in the packaging should be small, generic image in the
package is preferred, mostly utilitarian products. Hence, the more attractive the packaging,
the lesser is the tendency or intention of any customer to buy that product. Also, promotion to
some extent helps customers to overcome their squeamishness about these product and
convinces them to buy it. These can be in the form of samples, coupons, discounts, etc. The
study shows how condoms are an embarrassing product and what companies are doing to
convince customers to buy them. The sexual wellness category, which covers everything
from condoms and lubricants to sex toys and erotic innerwear, is at a nascent stage in India.
Brands have started to leverage this by rolling out targeted products, backed by clear-cut
communication strategies, balanced investments in offline distribution, social media
campaigns, and e-commerce. Currently pegged at Rs 2,000 crores, the market is slated to
cross Rs 20,000 crores by the year 2020.

About the Company

Since, the population numbers are exploding at an alarming rate with development of a
metro-sexual fast paced urban lifestyle, so naturally people are having intercourse at a volant
rate. As per Durex global sex survey, one-quarter of 18 to 24-year olds lost their virginity at
an age of 16 or under. 87% of this age demography had received sex education mostly when
12 to 13 years old while 95% of the respondents agreed that having proper sex education
makes them more responsible when having an intercourse. Thus, owing to increase in sexual
urge of teenagers across the world, it can be said with clarity that use of appropriate
protection measures is a must. 65% of the survey respondents said that they did not plan to
lose their virginity out of which this kind of encounter was higher among people (66%) who
did not receive any sex education in comparison to 62% of people who did receive some sex
education. 48% of the virgin respondents worried about transmittance of HIV AIDS, 42% of
them worried about catching some other kind of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) (this
constituted to more than half of the respondents) while 24% were more concerned about
having an unwanted early pregnancy. Use of condoms while losing their virginity was done
by 48% of the respondents which was higher amongst 52% people who did have some sex
education while lower amongst 30% people who did not.

As a brand Durex has been able to contribute a lot to the market development in this
category. In India, as well as across the world it has been instrumental in driving campaigns
not only aiming towards increasing its sales but also educating the customers towards safe-
sex practices. For instance, to dispel taboos related to the discomfort faced by females, it has
openly come up with campaigns related to the use of ‘Lubes’ – sex lubricants so that the act
does not prove to be painful for females. Their focus is that since sex is the need of both the
genders, so both should equally enjoy and relish their private moments. This campaign was
targeted towards uncomfortable state created due to dryness in genitals to which more than
half of the female respondents endured in agony, despite the fact that nine out of ten women
who used lube reported that it ameliorated the act. 'Ladies, Let’s Lube' has been created
by Havas London and directed by Harry Bradbeer targeting women who refuse to be
embarrassed of their bodies while urging their male counterparts to let them use this product
without having to feel ashamed about it.

Initiatoves takes and their analysis

Empowerment through education: During their global survey, 66.67% of 18 to 24-year-olds
agreed that they needed more information on how to communicate about sex. Hence, Durex
developed a ‘Connect-ED’ programme in 2012 in partnership with Gauteng Department of
Education in South Africa to educate students about relationships, abstaining from bad habits/
unsafe practices, use of condoms and its effect on sexual health targeting learners through
multiple touch-points enabled via:

1. School-production: Screening of a film ‘The Line’ based on lives and daily interaction of
school-going teenagers

2. Connect-Ed guidebook for students: Contains important concepts related to sexual health
and emotions, contraception, advocating the use of condoms, HIV/AIDS, STIs, unanticipated
pregnancies and constitutional rights of minors related to sexual health and wellbeing – a
proper sex education material by virtue of being first of its kind in South Africa.

3. Connect-Ed Buddy: Online advisor which anonymously counsels learners on sex

(information dissemination) and matters related to sexual health while protecting their
confidentiality.

The programme had a record reach of over 2.6 million between 2012 to 2017 by visiting
1300 schools aimed at bringing about a mind-shift of youth for making choices towards safer
sexual practices to enhance a positive change in their sexual behaviour as conveyed by Tania
Goncalves-Da Conceicao- Brand Manager, Durex.

Scenario in India: Despite being the land of ‘Kamasutra’ while 25 years past since
‘Kamasutra brand’ broke the mould on condom advertising, speaking openly about sex
especially when women do it- is still seen slut-shammed and easily targeted with vituperative
and crude words. In fact, even after the years of constant debate, ‘sex-education’ has yet not
been incorporated into the schools’ curriculum. The ‘90s ad for ‘Kamasutra condoms’
featuring actress Pooja Bedi and actor Mark Robinson was one of the iconoclast ads of that
time which tried to break free the emotions of sex from the chains of social stigma and was
created by Lintas boss late Alayque Padamse. It was attacked by many including industry
bodies at that time. In 2016, a first lip-lock came through Wrigley’s ad while Sunny Leone’s
ad for a condom brand too became a topic for heated discussions. As discussed above, with
increase in internet penetration across the country, the millennial Indian generation seems no
longer being driven by the old rules of vanity, beauty, and pleasure and for them talking
about sex is no longer a taboo. As per a survey by Durex early in 2019 in India a revelation
came that 90% of Indian women do not have orgasm every time they have sex. This led to:

1. Brands such as – Durex, Skore India, Manforce, etc. coming up with bolder
communications designed around the themes pertaining to ‘Finishing together’,
‘Female orgasms’, ‘Orgasm inequality’, etc. On these themes, many thought-
provoking ads were made which focussed on the fact that when both have started the
act of sex together, they should finish it together too rather one person leading the
race.
2. To empower their customers to become ‘champions of shared pleasure’ so that they
can #ComeTogether – an innuendo, durex led a campaign in four phases prior to the
launch of its new product.
 Phase-1: #OrgasmInequality- Durex India shared a statistic around Orgasm
Inequality that that 70% of women in India don’t orgasm when they have sex
to ignite a debate around the same through Swara Bhaskar (famous Bollywood
actress) and other celebrities on Twitter emphasizing that pleasure should not
be solo game in bed. It is a right for both the parties involved. It also featured
a twitter campaign with Pooja Bedi to discuss on important sex-manners while
having an intercourse
 Phase-2: #FakeOrgasm- Durex roped in celebrities like Kaneez Surka, Aditi
Mittal, Kusha Kapila, etc. on Twitter for its campaigns #FakeOrgasm and
#IFakedItToo discussing the intimate problems in details while bringing in
audience to talk about the Fake Orgasms and share their stories and
experiences
 Phase-3: #OrgasmsDecodedWithPoojaBedi- Pooja Bedi went LIVE online
validating the problem on Durex twitter handle and providing solutions during
the interaction
 Phase-4: #DurexMutualClimax- And finally, the product Launch- Durex
Mutual Climax Condoms – to summarize the outcome that company intended
after the whole campaign.
3. Durex also roped in influential men celebs like Kunal Kundra, Kenny Sebastian and
Aparshakti Khurana to publicize their views on Orgasm inequality in order to validate
the message by both the genders, thereby, building its brand credibility among the
targeted audience.
4. Skore India released a campaign on #InternationalFemaleOrgasm Day- launching a
stimulating gel to help women orgasm. The print ad with the tagline ‘Every woman
must shiver’ was rolled out with an ad film around the same.
5. One of the campaigns by Skore India insisted that- this season news-rooms are
heating up but bedrooms are cooling down- portraying both the sexiness yet
seriousness of the issue.
 6. Skore Oh! was launched to directly appeal to women- one product targeting men and
women simultaneously leading to market development.
7. Durex also tried to create an official condom Emoji for safe communication about sex
for young people in 2016. Currenly, ‘Umbrella with Raindrops’ is used as the
unofficial safe sex emoticon. On Dec.1st 2016 at World Aids Day, campaign
#CondomEmoji achieved over 44 million potential impressions as it trended around
the world. More than 75% of young people discuss sex via emojis and 91.7% agree
that a condom emoji would make sex safer. Emojipedia, the “leading resource in
documenting emoji” also supported the campaign by creating a page for yet to be
approved condom emoji by Unicode.

Conclusion
The outlook of Indian youth in terms of talking openly about matters related to sex and sexual
wellness, seems to have drastically changed as compared to previous times. There is a deep
interconnection between physical, mental and sexual health when it comes to holistic well-
being of adults, therefore, breaking taboos in this category in terms of making career (often
seen as a job of low-profile and mocked at) or encouraging different stakeholders (brands,
sellers and customers) to play their part actively and responsibly is still an area which
demands deep interrogation by identifying and analysing important decision variables that
command sale and purchase of products in this sector. Further, the New Age Marketing tools
that can be deployed here need very careful examination because we cannot target the
concerned senses as a direct or a conclusion of multiple sensory touchpoints. Thus,
communication design apart from user experience needs further integration and research.

References:

1. https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/348/175926.html
2. https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/01/22/durex-campaign-seeks-banish-blushes-
arising-female-sexual-discomfort
3. https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/advertising/from-kamasutra-
condoms-to-skore-how-advertising-has-evolved/71057663
4. https://www.durex.co.uk/collections/all
5. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=47480
6. https://www.adgully.com/durex-condomemoji-shows-how-youth-communicate-
about-safe-sex-70100.html
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxndJz-CBf4

Exhibits
Exhibit 1: Results of the campaign: The campaign was a huge success with 5 different
hashtags gathering maximum conversation, reach, and impression
Exhibit 2: Pictures of different campaigns run by Durex

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