On 5th September Durex took social media site Twitter to announce that they are coming with a new condom range and it is going to be eggplant-flavoured protection. As soon as the news broke the world went bizarre and trolled Durex for its not so logical choice. (After all Eggplant does not make any sense)
Durex Eggplant Tweet:
https://twitter.com/durex/status/772738319071453184
Where some people were confused, some couldn’t believe their eyes!!
Funny Tweets:
Delete this.
— Myles 🇯🇲🇧🇧 (@myles_morris) September 5, 2016
Maybe you should avoid using the words 'Breaking' News if you're a condom brand. Might not be auspicious! https://t.co/McWtAdc8Ni
— Papa CJ: Comedian. Author. Coach (@PapaCJ) September 5, 2016
How to stop everyone from having sex ever again https://t.co/l73CPs6ypw
— Poulomi Das (@PouloCruelo) September 5, 2016
.@durex hi guys, just a quick one. How have you prepared and cooked the aubergine? Thanks.
— Josh Barrie (@joshbythesea) September 5, 2016
Need to know how Durex has cooked the aubergine. Hope it's charred over a griddle with olive oil and lemon. Ok bye. https://t.co/xkLunJvs3Q
— Josh Barrie (@joshbythesea) September 5, 2016
All the money I'll save on baba ganoush! https://t.co/cLgyafIc68
— PALLE! 🇸🇪 (@Palle_Hoffstein) September 5, 2016
The evolution of Humans has ended in THIS!!! https://t.co/GYmqPUtHre
— #HappyTweet (@arvindergujral) September 5, 2016
@HoeZaay egg plant has a flavour? 😂😂
— Bahadur 2.0 (@my2bit) September 5, 2016
Hours later, Durex understood that maybe some people have no idea what an eggplant is so they tweeted again and clarified that it’s actually Aubergine flavour.
Durex Aubergine Tweet:
https://twitter.com/durex/status/772771914972536832
Now, people were taking it really serious and they actually believed that Durex is  launching a veggie-flavored dong-sock but it was a hoax. Yes! as relieving as it sounds, it’s actually true.
It was a stunt played by Durex as a part of their effort to introduce a condom emoji. They think it will make it easier for young people to talk about safe sex and to bring it on they have played dramatically.
Last year Durex stated that this sort of emojis will help people to be more comfortable around the discussion of safe sex and encourage the conversation among people. They said that introducing such emojis will raise the awareness about the  importance of using condoms in protecting against sexually transmitted infections, including AIDS and HIV.
While they have played a brilliant strategy, I am not convinced that a condom emoji will make a big change because people will not stop using eggplant, carrot or any other emoji they have already been using for sexting. This is how it works once they have used any emoji that makes sense to them and others they will keep doing it. That’s how people talk and it is certainly not going to help people practice safe sex after all it’s all part of a virtual world and reality is entirely different.
In fact, getting easy access to condoms can be far more helpful and even evidence-based sex education will create more awareness than just an emoji.
I am not convinced, but they surely got us scared with all the Eggplant flavour condom news.
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6 September 2016
Avni S. Singh