Word: condomize
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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AIDS, the terrifying disease. Condoms, the most widely available safeguard against the spread of the sexually transmitted illness. Those combined facts have shattered the long-held taboo against advertising such prophylactics on broadcast television. While some cable systems have carried condom commercials, ABC, CBS and NBC have steadfastly refused, contending that the ads would offend some communities. No local station would broadcast them either -- until now. First San Francisco's KRON-TV, an NBC affiliate, announced it would end its ban, and plans to start airing three 15-second spots for Trojan condoms in February. "Someone had to break...
...stations have established restrictions. The commercials will not be shown during children's programming hours; condoms cannot be promoted as a birth-control device (as they have been on cable); and the ads must be in good taste. Tastes vary. The LifeStyles ad that will air on the Midwest stations, for example, is quite direct. "Because of AIDS, I'm afraid," states a young woman. "AIDS isn't just a gay disease. It's everybody's disease. And everybody who gets it dies. The Surgeon General says proper use of condoms can reduce your risk...
Prophylactics manufacturers, whose sales are expected to jump by 10%, to $110 million this year, contend that their ads promote not promiscuity but responsible sexual practices. TV viewers may be ready to agree. Harriette Robinet, 55, of Oak Park, Ill., admits that she is "squeamish" about the idea of condom ads on prime time but thinks today's young adults need the information. Says she: "It's all very pathetic, but it's necessary...
...embarrassment involved in buying contraceptives," said Carl F. Graef, a co-founder of the budding firm. "Generally, our customers are just people who don't feel like going to the drugstore. Now they don't have to look the guy in the eye and say, 'I'd like a condom, please...
...avoid the risk of infection. Sex education, said the panel, has become literally a life-and-death matter, and educators should use "whatever vernacular is required" to get the message across. One message, more or less in the vernacular, has already been supplied by Koop: a "rubber (condom) should always be used during sexual intercourse (vagina or rectum)" if there is any chance that a homosexual or heterosexual partner might be infected...