Tara's Trysts The Conception of Trojan Condoms | The Conception of Trojan Condoms |
| Written by Tara Tainton | |||||||
| Friday, 03 November 2006 23:00 | |||||||
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All that sex is going on in America and across the globe and yet, we often take
our prophylactics (often the cause of turning a potential lover into a willing
one) for granted. The most common of all, condoms, are protecting us from
sexually transmitted diseases, leaving evidence of our activities, and unwanted
gifts from the stork. One brand, the best selling condom in America, may very well be responsible for ensuring we have access to condoms at all today. If it wasn't for a clever and determined Presbyterian who recognized condoms could be a lucrative business at a time when selling birth control devices was against the law, the protection offered by condom makers may still be questionable and not at all reliable today. Yes, the religiously moral Merle Leland Youngs brought Trojan condoms to the sexually active population of American in 1920. Trojan has been thriving longer than any other condom brand out there, leaving Durex a not-so-near second. They say that Trojans are the condoms that our grandfathers used. Though, I doubt my grandfathers wore condoms or I probably wouldn't be here today. I have Harley of Adventures in Cohabitation to thank for referring me to the surprisingly fascinating history of Trojan condoms, a favorite of most of you out there. Of course, I haven't seen that Trojan has yet developed a line of custom-fit condoms for a true fit of every lovely cock in the world. So, you know my favorite condom brand officially remains They Fit. I've had a heck of a lot of fun with size N17 lately... ...oooh, sorry there. Momentary relapse into my fantasies once again. Back to the Trojan story!
Brendan I. Koerner's "The Other Trojan War: What's the best-selling condom in America?" recently published in Slate provides us all the seedy details of the condom manufacturing and advertising business. Though condoms were available in the early 1920s, the businesses selling them were sketchy.... or dodgy, whichever term you prefer. The manufacturers didn't last long and supposedly weren't too concerned about how reliable their products were. Yikes! Even worse, Koerner brings to our attention the Comstock Laws, which actually made it illegal to sell birth control as of 1873. Wikipedia tells us "Comstock Act is an 1873 United States federal law that made it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" - with contraceptive devices and information explicitly put in that category - materials through the mail. It was passed on March 3, 1873. Twenty-four states passed similar prohibitions on materials distributed within the states... The Comstock Act not only targeted pornography as such, but also all contraceptive equipment and many educational documents such as descriptions of contraceptive methods and other reproductive health-related materials." You can read more about all that puritanical censorship here. For condoms to even be available to us sordid folks, they had to be advertised as prevention against disease. Pharmacies still didn't like their businesses to be associated with the whole immoral act of sex anyway. So, our grandfathers would've had to buy condoms from the backs of bars the majority of the time. In fact, the US managed to make a lucrative profit from selling condoms to the European armies during World War II while our own puritanical heritage kept the protection from our own US soldiers. Koerner explains that the "American Expeditionary Force, on the other hand, refused to furnish its soldiers with condoms and was in turn plagued by an astronomical number of venereal infections. Public-health officials were concerned that returning soldiers would spread syphilis far and wide, and Youngs correctly sensed that condoms would become more socially acceptable in the face of a potential epidemic. Indeed, the very year that World War I ended, a New York judge ruled in favor of birth-control pioneer Margaret Sanger, allowing her to distribute information on contraceptives without fear of arrest." Youngs rightly knew that condoms needed a better reputation and quality standards to meet. He built a factory in New Jersey, and the uniformly made Trojans were born. Youngs also "favored austere packaging emblazoned with nothing but a Trojan helmet, a symbol meant to connote protection and virility. Youngs' artwork was far less erotic than that of his primary rival, Jules Schmid, a onetime sausage-maker who'd started making lamb-gut condoms in the 1880s; by the time Trojan debuted, he was manufacturing rubber condoms under the Ramses and Sheik brand names. Schmid's packages often featured romantic Egyptian or Arab images."
Supposedly, our grandfathers weren't in the habit of asking for condoms by brand name. And the US pharmacies dug the more mainstream packaging. Once Trojans were available, pharmacists typically handed them to their customers rather than the other brands sporting the immoral imagery. Youngs Rubber also eventually "lobbied state and local governments to enact laws restricting the sale of condoms to pharmacies alone. Since Trojans had become the preference of pharmacists, the brand was guaranteed a virtual monopoly in markets where these laws were passed." Good old American capitalism! In the 1970s, the sexual revolution influenced the availability of condoms outside of pharmacies alone as international brands made their way over to the US as well. Trojan's success was threatened as their monopoly in the condom business waned. Eventually, Youngs was owned by "Church & Dwight, home to the Brillo and Arm & Hammer brands, in 2001 for $739 million." And Trojan has been regaining its popularity ever since, and heralds as America's favorite brand. And that Presbyterian entrepreneur, Merle Youngs, set Trojan up for its success.
3.23 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved." |
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