Condom firm at Rio Olympics finds novel way to promote product
As certainly as the Olympics arrive in four-year cycles, news watchers can rely on perennial stories about the thousands of condoms handed out in the teeming Athletes’ Village. (The count in Rio de Janeiro: 450,000 pcs condom to be distributed to athletes and staff at a free clinic in the Village, about three times the number handed out in London in 2012.) So naturally, condom manufacturers see the Games as an advertising opportunity. In London, organizers cracked down after unauthorized brands of condoms made their way into the Village, emphasizing that Reckitt Benckiser’s Durex brand was the official condoms supplier.
This time around, one brand is using an unusual tactic to bring Olympic consumers attention to their brand: it has built athletic apparel out of condom material. Skyn condoms, manufactured by Australian company Ansell Ltd., has released a video about its “experiment in sports performance.” The company hired a fashion designer to build a long-jump suit for Dutch jumper Joren Tromp, and filmed him jumping in it. which is better to attract worldwide attention on the brand.