Happy Hump Day!

Hi again!

I thought in honour of it being Hump day (Wednesday!) I would talk about this lovely promotional giveaway that one of my housemates got at a concert this weekend. It's a Durex condom, from the nice people at 102.1 the edge radio station in Toronto, with a different view on Hump Day and how you should celebrate it. Take a look if you will:

At first I thought that this was a pretty funny and clever promo. Then I paused and thought about it. This package/story is pretty offensive. First of all, it's so heterosexist, it says "You land in a hot tub surrounded by girls in bikinis", which I feel makes the assumption that the reader/user is a heterosexual male, since a) a gay man would not particularity find that much sexual pleasure in said situation, and b) if it were a female landing in the tub, she would have no use for this type of protection as she lacks the physical anatomy to use it. Do gay men and lesbians not enjoy Hump Day in the sense of this package, and do they not deserve to be appointed as royalty, surrounded by many beauties? What about heterosexual women? Where are they with their hot tubs of men in scandalous swimwear? The story ends with the word ‘everyone’; does this mean that only straight men use these condoms? It fully overlooks the women and gay men. All these other demographics use contraception, so why do 102.1 the edge and Durex feel that they should only cater to the sexual needs of men? I mean, there is not a hetero-female or gay-male story version. Durex and the edge are lacking in intersectionality in terms of their promo. Why not make a choose your own adventure version? There are many sides to this package which could be used to have a broader appeal and show the mutual continuativeness of contraception. Everyone needs it; therefore they should be marketed towards. This is perhaps due to the fact that Durex and/or 102.1 the edge have, as Stuart Hall refers to, a "preferred meaning" towards gender ideology; meaning they prefer to have the heterosexual male as their target market. They present the hegemonic idea of male dominance and heterosexuality. Gay men are stereotypically deemed less masculine, and women lack the phallic power of condom usage (they need the man in order for the condom to serve its purpose), therefore that are not the ideal target consumer. I do not think that this is the best direction for Durex to go in, as it will alienate many of the people who might consider buying their products. They need to be more intersectional and show that all people typically use contraception and should therefore be treated equal. There should be no power as to who has the condom, rather to those who are smart enough to know to use one. Not so smart Durex/102.1...