Durex wants to put sex talk back on the menu with aubergine flavoured condom stunt
Durex has 'created' an aubergine flavoured condom as part of its #CondomEmoji campaign in a bid to highlight the fact that the official emoji alphabet doesn’t contain any icons to help young people discuss safe sex.
Durex has unveiled a range of Aubergine emojis
Based upon the premise that the “humble” aubergine has become a symbol to help millennials broach the subject of sex in text-speak, the contraceptive brand said it has designed the new flavour to underline the “absurdity” of Unicode Consortium’s decision not to approve an official condom emoji.
Along with hotdogs and peaches, the vegetable has found fame as one of the many symbols young people use to talk about sex on their phones, and thanks to Durex the nutritious food staple – a key ingredient for dishes like Moussaka and Ratatouille – has now found an unlikely calling as a choice of condom.
It follows on from a social initiative led by Durex last year, which called for the creation of a condom emoji to help young people communicate about safe-sex ahead of World AIDS Day.
Despite Durex’s best efforts, the icon failed to make the cut for the most recent update of the official emoji keyboard.
In a tongue-in-cheek statement, Durex said it hoped the hoped the new eggplant product would help empower young people to put “safe sex back on the menu,” but admitted that the new 'flavour' was just a concept and wouldn’t be hitting shelves any time soon.
“The idea of an Eggplant condom coming from Durex is pretty absurd,” said the brand’s global director Volker Sydow, “but it is not as absurd as the fact that there is no emoji that enables young people to discuss safe sex easily in this language.
“We want to thank all the supporters of the condom emoji and assure everyone that we will continue to champion communication about safe sex in all forms”.
Durex is now urging smartphone operating systems developers and social media platforms to introduce the official safe sex emoji themselves.
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