I didn’t really expect my first entry on this blog to be a rant about the state of American sexual education, but I don’t suppose anyone will be surprised.

I was pursuing Jezabel for my mid-afternoon smug, self-satisfied laugh at celebrities and pop culture when I came across a link to the New York Times. Oh, fun, Trojan has a new ad campaign out. I clicked through to the article, Pigs with Cellphones, but No Condoms expecting to continue my daily work break with more amusement. Oh, it started out well enough,

IN a commercial for Trojan condoms that has its premiere tonight, women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs.

but the news, the actual news, that followed is horrifying. Not only do only 1 in 4 American sexual encounters include the use of condoms, not only do we have the lowest rate of condom usage in the developed world, and not only does the US condom market barely make enough money to justify network television ads, it seems that some networks feel that condom ads that promote pregnancy prevention are not fit for TV.

A 2001 report about condom advertising by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that, “Some networks draw a strong line between messages about disease prevention — which may be allowed — and those about pregnancy prevention, which may be considered controversial for religious and moral reasons.”

Let’s review that again, shall we? Ads that show condoms as a contraceptive are too controversial for late night network television. CBS simply declined the commercial as inappropriate.

CBS, home of the gruesome CSI series (and its five bazillion spinoffs) and FOX, home of the uber-classy “Trading Spouses,” find what’s basically a Public Health Announcement (Trojan’s logo appears only briefly, and the tagline for the spot is “use a condom every time”) too offensive to air on late night television.

Ignoring, for now (and believe me, just for now), the fact that we are now relying on condom manufacturers to deliver public health information, it’s ridiculous that a completely non-sexual advertisement for condoms is rejected as too controversial. Sexual health, personal responsibility, and public safety are matters that affect everyone, whether or not you are having sex, are in a monogamous relationship, are straight, are gay, are genderqueer, are 90, or are 10.

I encourage you to email askfox@fox.com and fill out the CBS feedback form to express your disappointment in their refusal to run the Trojan: Evolve ads.

(The ad can be viewed at TrojanEvolve.com and is a pretty great short)

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