Steamy Lil Nas X music video promotes safe sex with Durex
Lil Nas X has teamed with Durex to promote safe sex and celebrate “sexual health and wellness for everyone, whatever their gender/sexual identity and expression.” In the musician’s new music video, a Durex condom is featured prominently in an erotic locker room scene.
Hip-hop darling and meme god Lil Nas X this week dropped his debut album Montero alongside a handful of music videos to accompany the album’s singles.
The new video for pop ballad That’s What I Want casts the musician as an injured star player on a college football team who has a steamy encounter with another player in the locker room.
As the heat rises, the viewer gets an up-close shot of the musician tearing open a silver Durex condom wrapper with his diamond-encrusted teeth. A nod to safe sex, the product placement has been well-received by the brand. Durex issued a public “thank you” to Lil Nas X for including the brand in the film.
“One of the primary beliefs of Durex is that everyone should have the freedom to embrace their true self, in and out of the bedroom. Lil Nas X is the personification of this value system — he is a man who has given his fans the freedom to explore their sexuality without shame or guilt," Olga Osminkina-Jones, senior vice president of intimate wellness at Reckitt, the brand's parent company, tells The Drum. "Loving yourself and your sexuality rests in the foundation of the Durex brand. Seeing Lil Nas X bring Durex with him on his personal sexual journey further solidifies that this sentiment is shared by not only his fans but his entire generation."
Osminkina-Jones says that the company hopes viewers watch the music video and "remember the importance of safer sex" and that safe sex is "the foundation of self-love."
In a post sponsored by Durex on Instagram last week, the rapper celebrated Sexual Health Month and promoted safe sex for all. The post included a still from the music video scene in question alongside the caption: “Its Sexual Health Month and Montero is born!!! now I’m protecting myself and everything that’s beautiful about me with @Durex_usa. lets celebrate by recognizing sexual health and wellness for everyone, whatever their gender/sexual identity and expression.”
The promotion could also help Durex further the positive momentum it has seen of late. After months of lockdown, sales of Durex condoms surged as Covid restrictions eased this spring, with Reckitt reporting in April that Durex products saw a “double-digit” lift in sales in Q1 compared to the same period last year. New product placements and celebrity endorsements such as Lil Nas X’s could accelerate sales growth.