Approximately 2.3 million people are living with HIV in India. We produced a public service advertising campaign to make condoms more acceptable across India.
Start date: 2006
End date: 2009
Media types: advertisements on television, radio, cinema, outdoor media and print
Issue: health
Country: India
Making condoms acceptable
It's a sign of manhood... but it's not a moustache
What do you get when you bring together a riddle, an Indian sport, a condom ringtone, and a puppy to make condoms more socially acceptable in India?
In two years, the BBC World Service Trust’s condom campaign reached 150 million men across India and brought about improved attitudes towards condoms across a range of criteria.
The focus of the campaign was to get men talking about condoms. Research shows that men who talk about sex are more likely to use condoms consistently.
The campaign positioned condoms as a product that men use to show they are responsible and care about themselves and their families. The campaign tagline communicated that "those who talk are winners" or in Hindi Jo Bola Wohi Sikander,and "those who understand are winners" (Jo Samjha Wohi Sikander). A pesky animated parrot, which represents talking and smartness, was chosen as the campaign's mascot.
Advertising on television, radio, cinema, print and outdoor media ran over four phases in two years nationally, with a focus on four high-HIV prevalent states: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Phase I: An exciting contest launches the campaign
The mass media campaign launched on the eve of World AIDS Day 2007 with a competition designed to get men talking about condoms.
The three-week campaign asked people to answer a riddle. Here's one of the clues: "It's a sign of manhood... but it's not a moustache."
The campaign reached 52 million men in the four priority states in just three weeks. Nearly 400,000 people responded to the advertisements by making a local call to register their answer to the riddle. The correct answer was "condom"!
The strength of the creative idea behind the campaign is that instead of an advertisement that tells people to talk, it actually stimulated people to talk.
The riddle enticed people to talk about condoms with their friends in order to arrive at the answer. Twenty-five lucky winners were selected randomly and each received a camera mobile phone with free talk time.
Click here to watch the advert
Phase II: Condom, condom, condom!
The second phase of the campaign launched in March 2008.
Once again, we wanted men to talk freely about condoms. The confidence and the smartness required to do so are also being linked to being a "real man".
The TV advert shows a kabaddi match - kabaddi is a team sport originally from the Indian subcontinent where chanting the word "kabaddi" during play is a crucial aspect of game.
In the advertisement, the protagonist wins the match against an obviously macho team by chanting "condom" instead of "kabaddi". TV, radio, cinema, outdoor and print advertisements ran for a six week period.
To make it interactive, a print advert concluded that smart men talk about condoms. Readers were asked to SMS "yes" or "no" in reponse.
This amplified our core message of "smart men talk about condoms" by fictionalising the kabaddi match and the discussion and debate it generates. Click here to watch the advert
Phase III: A first-ever condom-themed ringtone
The third phase of the campaign launched in August 2008 with an innovative interactive component: a condom-themed ringtone.
The ringtone was advertised on TV, radio and outdoor platforms. The TV advert features a wedding reception where a man’s mobile phone rings with a loud refrain "condom! condom!".
Embarrassing for the person holding the mobile phone? No way! The reaction of those around the red-faced man is to see him as smart and responsible.
Viewers were encouraged to download the ringtone via an SMS short code or on the dedicated website www.condomcondom.org.
The objective of the advert was to make condoms more acceptable and portray the condom user as a smart and responsible person. The campaign focused on people who are sensible enough to appreciate this and the tagline progressed from talking to understanding.
India is the world's fastest-growing mobile telephone market with more than 500million mobile users. It therefore made sense to use mobiles and ringtones to create a buzz about condoms.
The ringtone struck a chord as nearly 550,000 requests for downloads were received in India through the SMS short code and another 200,000 requested via the website.
It caught the attention of national and international news media for its original approach to tackling a taboo topic. The campaign was covered on the front page of the Times of India, CNN listed it as "the most novel condom campaign in the world", and the ringtone topped a list of must-have ringtones in India.
Radharani Mitra, Creative Director of the BBC World Service Trust India, describes the thinking behind the campaign:
"Ringtones have become such personal statements that a specially created condom ringtone seemed just the right way of combining a practical message with a fun approach. We have always had a strong interactive, response-led component in this ongoing campaign. This downloadable ringtone provides an opportunity for our audience to translate a message into an action. This idea is to tackle the inhibitions and taboos that can be associated with condoms." Click here to watch the advert
Phase IV: A puppy called Condom
How can a sweet puppy help make condoms more acceptable and condom users look smart? Well, if his name is "Condom", he certainly can. And that’s what happened in the fourth and final phase of the condom campaign.
Coming close on the heels of the highly visible and successful condom ringtone, the dog named Condom found an unlikely champion in an irate lady who was being provoked by the dog’s owner and the pesky parrot.
The light-hearted approach carries a serious message: "the one who understands is a winner." Those who use condoms are winners in life.
Click here to watch the advert
Research and impact
An endline impact survey was conducted during January-February 2009 to measure progress on increasing positive attitudes and changing behaviour around condom use among men.
The impact of the campaign was measured by comparing these findings with a baseline study, which was conducted in 2007 using the same methodology.
The research showed that embarrassment around purchasing condoms has decreased and men are more likely to discuss and use them, compared to men who were not exposed to the campaign. A greater proportion of men now think that the use of condoms reflects smart and responsible behaviour.
For detailed results, click here to read the campaign results.
At end of the campaign, the Health Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, K. Sujatha Rao said:
"This campaign has been a resounding success. More importantly than the number of condoms sold, I think it has really enabled people to talk about condoms more freely. That is something which is of great importance to us today in this whole debate of trying to routinize and normalise condom use."
Awards
The campaign received global recognition at the prestigious Cannes Lion 2009 International Advertising Festival. It won a Bronze Lion in the Media category and was a Finalist in the Direct Response category.
The campaign also won an award at the Festival of Media, Valencia 2009.
