Marketing Condoms to Teens is Ethical and Necessary

Is it ethical to market condoms to teenagers? Advertising catches the attention of everyone – both young and old – but seeking to “feast” on the most vulnerable – the young. With the young seeking adventure and wanting to learn and become experienced, they are captured by everything they see and hear, whether the information is ethical or unethical. Over the years, sex has become an important part of the media through advertising and sales in a world where sex is important. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American children will view an estimated 360,000 advertisements that have sexual innuendos on television before graduating from high school.

A line of condoms marketed towards teens makes critics wonder if they are conveying a message that condoms and sex are. Jimmie Hatz condoms hit the shelves in February of 2004. “Jimmie Hat” is an urban slang term for condom. According to the marketers of the condoms, Common Ground USA, they are just promoting safe sex.

The marketing campaign targets the hip hop culture. The focus is primarily on minority communities where HIV and AIDS are spreading rapidly. "When you look at the numbers and the rate of infection continues to rise within the minority population, they're having sex," said Harry Terrell, CEO of Common Ground USA. "We say abstinence is the only way that you're going to be OK. But the fact of the matter is, we can't hide and think that they're going to stop having sex."

To grab the attention of their targeted audience, the condoms are named "Great Dane" and "Rottweiler" and come in shiny wrappers decked out with a cartoon dog wearing a thick gold chain. They also feature three flavors: grape, strawberry and banana. Many popular rappers have recorded songs that use the phrase "jimmie hats" to refer to condoms. Quotes like "For Players Puttin’ in Real Work" and "Protect Ya Neck" are also printed on the wrapper. Packaging aside, the success of Jimmie Hatz will depend on reactions from the younger consumers that the condom is targeting.

Terrell became interested in AIDS activism in 1996 after learning that a baseball player on a high school team he coached had been infected. Terrell has said that the condoms are a "full- blown effort on our part to save our community."

Critics of the condoms say that Common Ground’s marketing tactics are sending teens the wrong message.