National/regional campaigns
The Durex Network partners with local and national charities and governmental organisations worldwide to develop sexual health initiatives. Recent initiatives include:
Bulgaria
The Durex Network teamed up with the Bulgarian Gender Education, Research and Technologies Foundation to organise a youth sexual health awareness campaign in August 2008, which coincided with International Youth Day. Volunteers between 15 and 21 years old took part, engaging with young people in the streets of Bulgarian capital Sofia and giving out information leaflets, T-shirts and badges and condoms. The project was so successful that similar activities on a more regular basis are being planned for the future.
China
Durex China organised an awareness-raising event at the People's University of China and Jiaotong University on World AIDS Day 2008. The event was co-hosted with Chinese celebrity Lu Yi and the Ministry of Health. The day started with condom sampling on the campuses with student volunteers and Lu Yi. A presentation and discussion then took place in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the students, unveiling the results of recent HIV/AIDS campaigns held in throughout China and disseminating key prevention messages. National media was present and relayed the messages to members of the public on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Durex, the celebrity world and the students.
Czech Republic and Slovakia
In May 2007, thousands of people in the Czech Republic and Slovakia took part in National Condom Week.
A drawing competition was organised, inviting high school students to submit posters promoting safer sex, with the promise of the winning entry being used for the 2008 National Condom Week. The competition’s media profile was boosted with the involvement of pop singer Dara Rolins, who acted as a judge in the competition.
France
Between 12 and 30 November 2008, Durex France organised an online video competition, called the ‘Durex Safe Air Sex Contest’. The point of this humour competition was to film yourself miming having sex with an invisible partner while being protected by a Durex condom. Once uploaded, visitors could vote for their favourite video, each vote automatically donating a condom to one of Durex France’s partner charities. Thanks to high-profile media partners, such as national youth radio Skyrock and TV channel MTV, the website was well publicised and received over 560,000 visits in three weeks, with 170,000 votes. The winning video was aired on MTV on World AIDS Day.
New Zealand
For World AIDS Day 2008, Durex New Zealand managed to get national breakfast TV news coverage thanks to a designer dress with a twist. They were approached by a dress designer looking for condoms to make a dress for a fashion show featuring the gay community and sponsored by NZAF. The dress was produced to such a high standard it ended up being featured in the 2008 Queen of the Whole Universe event, thereby raising awareness of HIV/AIDS nationally.
Serbia
Durex Serbia started a long-term partnership with JAZAS – the Yugoslav Association for AIDS Prevention – in 2007. Since then, they have worked together on many activities including: ongoing schoolbased sexual health education, co-branded information and sampling at high profile festivals such as ‘Exit’ and ‘La Nuit des Publicites’, free stands at the Erotic Fair and a World AIDS Day event in Belgrade’s main square in 2007, which attracted the attention of Serbian Minister of Health Tomica Milosavljevic. And for World AIDS Day 2008, Durex Serbia also partnered with major newspaper 24 SATA for a week long sexual health education campaign targeting students in Belgrade and Novi Sad. This campaign involved daily classes taught by celebrities and evening parties in the halls of residence for which Durex Serbia provided condoms and posters.
Spain
In order to raise awareness of safer and better sex, Durex Spain launched a sexual health advice website in 2008, in association with FESS (the Spanish Association of Sexology Institute), and COFARES (Spain's largest Pharmacies Association). The website is aimed at the general public and presents information on sexual wellbeing, emotions, good sexual health, the body and health problems linked to sexual activity. Surfers can also get more personalised advice by sending an e-mail to the experts team. The website was launched for World AIDS Day 2008. To visit it, click here
UK
Durex UK and sexual health charity The Eddystone Trust co-organised a conference in Torbay, Devon, in February 2009. The conference, entitled 'R U Sex Positive', was designed for sexual health support providers and focused on enlivening methods of communication for discussing sex in a positive way across a diverse spectrum of ages and backgrounds. Key speakers included Susan Quilliam, relationship psychologist, agony aunt and author of 'The New Joy of Sex', together with leading experts in their field who work with ages ranging from young people through to older adults. Participants found it useful to discuss how sexual health can be moved away from its position as a problem area within public health and into a wellbeing area where safer sex can be good sex.