Indiantelevision.com Team

(12 August 2008 6:30 pm)

MUMBAI: The BBC World Service Trust has launched a new ad campaign that features the ‘condom a cappella’ ringtone in an attempt to make condoms more acceptable. The advertisement is part of a two-year project and is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) is also using the ad to support its condom promotion efforts.

The campaign, whose tagline is Jo Samjha Wohi Sikander (“the one who understands is a winner”), focuses on social support for condoms.

BBC World Service Trust creative director Radharani Mitra states, “Ringtones have become such personal statements that a specially created condom ringtone seemed just the right vehicle to define its user as a sensible person. We have always had a strong interactive, response-oriented element in this ongoing campaign. This downloadable ringtone provides another opportunity for our target audience to translate the message into an action point. The very act of downloading and using this ringtone would have a counter effect on the inhibitions and taboos that can be associated with condoms. And it adds an element of fun and comfort to it.”

The campaign uses “youth-friendly” platforms like website downloads, online games, mobile advertising and downloads, along with the TV and radio advertisements and on-ground activation. The objective is to connect with all age groups and across the socio-economic strata.