While the last shuddersome condom ad campaign from abroad has fake unborn children friend-requesting men, it's hardly the first bizarre way foreigns have peddles their rubbers.
While the latest shuddersome condom ad campaign from abroad has fake unborn children friending men on Facebook, it's hardly the first bizarre way rubbers have been peddled overseas. Today's find by Jezebel may take the cake though. Here's how Olla Condom in Brazil is trying to sell condoms: You're an unsuspecting Brazilian male by the name of, say, Dino Grandoni. You get a friend request on Facebook. Congrats! But the name is "Dino Grandoni Jr." Puzzled, you add him as a friend, and bam, on little junior's Wall is a link to Olla Condom's website. The point is of course that the only way to avoid a real junior is to use an Olla every time. The ad's summarized in the video below.
So the creepy factor for this Brazilian foray into social-media advertising is off the charts. But there are many, many other nearly as eye-popping (or just plain perplexing) condom ads from around the world. We figure that U.S. ads of condoms aren't as raunchy or explicit as some foreigners' because of America's relatively more prudish TV stations. (For example, Fox and CBS banned this Trojan ad, which is terribly mild compared to the ones below.) Though this is hardly an exhaustive list, these are some of our favorite shocking condom spots.
France One French condom-maker decided to throw water on its country's famous passion with classic spot now all over YouTube. In it a boy throws a major temper tantrum at a supermarket after his father refuses to buy him candy. After repeatedly screaming "I WANT THOSE SWEETIES" in French and knocking boxes off of shelves, the ad slyly inserts the punchline (which we won't totally spoil for you, but you already know it involves condoms). It seems French condom ads frequently employ children.
Argentina The action in this spot gets started before a single offspring is conceived. A teenage Argentinian couple are going at it hot and heavy, but just before it's about to turn into a porno (with scene-appropriate music and all) the girl's parents, inevitably, walk in. Flummoxed the boy has to decide quick what to do with the condom he was just unwrapping... We won't ruin this punchline either.
Kenya English boy band Blue probably never intended for its song "One Love" to be used like this. After a Kenyan businesswomen loses her umbrella cover in the wind, she's approached on the street by a man who offers, yeah, a Trust brand condom as a replacement. We have no proof but we are going to venture a guess that trying to a pick up a woman off the street by pulling a condom out of your pocket will most definitely never work. The Swahili tagline is nothing but optimistic: "Life is fine with Trust."
U.K. Ah, dry British humor is at its best when it's about sex. This man's litany of excuses for not needing a condom includes The Lord of the Rings, satellites, and African medicine men. It's part of a larger Durex ad campaign across the pond, in which at least one hinted at bestiality.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
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