Trojan to bring condoms, education to IU

Ribbed. Magnum. Lubricated. Flavored. Her pleasure.

Condoms, anyone?

Trojan will come to IU from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Dunn Meadow on Wednesday as part of its “Evolve” tour. The company is working to educate students about sexual health and will provide games and activities – an area where it believes IU could improve.

The company ranks universities and colleges across the country based on sexual health resources. A fellow Big Ten school, the University of Minnesota, got the No. 1 spot in 2007 while IU came in at No. 47.

Katie Wilkinson, office and outreach coordinator for Health and Wellness Education at the Health Center, said Wednesday’s event is a precursor to the Health Center’s week of “Sexploration” in October.

“It’s an opportunity to get that same sort of information without taking a class,” Wilkinson said. “We look at the Trojan bus tour as something to introduce our week of events for the next month.”

Trojan spokesman Michael Bruno said the tour grew out of the TV and print commercials depicting a pig turning into a man after purchasing a Trojan condom. The ads are not shown on prime-time network television.

“It was sort of a creative way to show you need to evolve your sexual behavior,” Bruno said. “It is really designed to raise awareness of the ongoing sexual decline in this country, respect for yourself and your partner.”

The most popular aspect of the tour, Bruno said, is the Evolve Relay Race. Four students line up and wear pig ears and snouts. They race to a night stand, pull out a condom, run back to the podium, yell out the expiration date of the condom and proceed to tear off the wrapper and correctly place the condom on a banana. After positioning the condom, the individual removes the pig ears and nose and runs to the middle of the course.

“It’s a lot of fun to see your friends play that game,” Bruno said. “It’s also a way for people to learn how to correctly use a condom in an entertaining way.”

A sexual health educator will be on hand to demonstrate the correct method of placing a condom on a banana. Bruno estimated a few thousand attend at each campus and expects at least 1,000 Hoosiers to turn out.

Despite the company’s hopes for high attendance, some students said they would not go to the event.

“Certainly not,” said freshman Colten Mitchell. “I just don’t feel it’s right to openly condone premarital sex.”

Sophomore Danielle Trudeau said her busy schedule would prohibit her from attending.

“I have class all day on Wednesday so I wouldn’t be able to go,” Trudeau said.

Though the event is sponsored by Trojan, Bruno said they mainly want to educate people.

“We’re not interested in selling Trojans,” Bruno said. “We’re interested in selling condoms.”