Flavours, colours, designs: Condom manufacturers experiment with it all as good old Nirodh loses out

From an array of flavours to designs to maximise pleasure to experiments at prolonging the sex act – the private manufacturers of condoms have gone full steam with innovation, targeting recreational sex with great zeal while the good old Nirodh, promoted by the government, is virtually out of circulation. When did you hear the rather unexciting ‘Pyar Hua, Iqrar Hua’ advertisement featuring Nirodh on television last? If the answer is you never thought it existed in the first place, blame it on the apathy of the government in promoting the product. If it was doing badly already, there could be worse in store. [caption id=“attachment_1402755” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP.[/caption] The decision of the Delhi High Court which sets aside a government order putting a cap on condom prices is likely to boost the business of private manufacturers of the product by at least 20 percent. Since the market for condoms is not expanding dramatically, the growth is likely to come at the cost of the government-backed manufacturer Hindustan Latex Limited (HLL). Once the market leader, the product has fallen out of user favour due to lack of innovation and aggressive marketing. The vacuum has been filled by private players who have been modifying condoms constantly keeping in mind the changing taste of users. Thus we have condoms in strawberry, chocolate and banana flavours and ribbed condoms. Private manufacturers are providing battery operated vibrating rings with condoms too. These rings are worn by the user to create vibration during sexual intercourse. Earlier, companies used to produce only pink coloured condoms, but now there is a variety in colours including green, orange and blue. Apart from this, a company has also introduced a condom claiming that it prolongs orgasm. “The condom contains Binzokin kind of chemical elements and local anaesthesia which helps prolong the intercourse,” renowned Haryana pharmacist Manish Aggi told Firstpost. It took the government 50 years to acknowledge the fact that private players have beat Nirodh because of their innovation, aggressive marketing and attractive packaging. According to Health Ministry statistics, the government produces and distributes 65 crore condoms for safe sex and family planning purposes. But there has been a steep decline of 40 percent in the distribution of Nirodh in the last five years. Around 2.4 billion condoms are sold every year in the country and the size of the market is between Rs 650 crore and Rs 700 crore. HLL Chairman Dr M Ayappam refuses to accept that there is a decline in the distribution of Nirodh. “Both Nirodh and other luxury condoms have their own markets and cannot replace each other. We have two kind of Nirodh - the one supplied free of cost as social responsibility and the other is low priced (Masti, Rakshak, etc.) which is doing well in the market,” he told Firstpost. Earlier, he said, Nirodh condoms were used for family planning but these days people have many options for birth control and therefore Nirodh is now mainly used for safe sex. “What is needed is its packing should be improved and made erotic,” he opined. The thinking may soon see execution in the form of rebranding and sensuous packaging. HLL has Nirodh and Moods as its brands. Ayappam says that their brands are also innovating and experimenting and the latest variety in this is ‘Moods Acquirer’, which costs Rs 2,500. According to him, ‘Moods Acquirer’ is a kind of gift pack, which includes condoms, sex toys, sex games, candles, sex guide, etc. and this product is much talked about now-a-days. “Although such products have not grabbed the Indian market as expected, their demand outside India is huge,” he says. The other products include Moods Dot, Moods Cool (cooling lubricants), Moods Warm Lube (lubricating gel) and Alovera. He welcomed the Delhi High Court judgement, saying “There should be no ceilings on the prices of luxury condoms. To competitors, private firms come up with new technology and better quality which needs more and more investment. The price capping will discourage them.” As the use of condoms as a tool of birth control is a thing of past, the fast decline in the use of condoms for safe sex is a worrying sign. Also, the availability of Nirodh or cheaper condoms to people is getting difficult. Dr Nachiketa Mohanty, programme manager at AIDS Healthcare Foundation – India Cares, says Nirodh is for free supply for “targeted intervention” and therefore, saying that it is losing the market would be a bit unfair. “But yes, it has been observed that people don’t want to use it despite being supplied free of cost. The reason is unattractive packaging. There is a stigma attached to Nirodh and that is people think it is of inferior quality,” he said. He is of the view that with the availability of many options for birth control, the government’s main focus “should now be on awareness to control sex related diseases”. He says government should do more to make people aware about use of condoms to tackle spread of STDs and also make them easily available from remote villages to city. “Commercial sex workers and commercial transgenders and injecting drug users (IDUs) are extremely prone to HIV infection. The prevalence of AIDS in commercial sex workers and transgenders has been recorded at 8 percent, while only 0.27 percent common people have been found infected with the deadly virus. Over 80 percent HIV affected people have caught the disease through unsafe sexual activity. Therefore, the above mentioned two categories fall in the targeted intervention category and Nirodh is basically meant for them. IDUs and truckers fall in the preventive intervention category and condoms are available for them on cheaper rates under the social responsibility programme,” he explained. He suggests that cheaper brands like Nirodh should be made available everywhere form a general store to roadside stalls to hair salon to control the menace of AIDS. To achieve the target of getting condoms without any hesitation or hurdle, there is a need for improvising marketing strategy on the line of luxury condoms marketing. “If you go to Thailand, you will be presented condoms along with payment receipts in restaurants. In New York, it is available even in barber shop,” he added. Nachiketa suggests that the packaging and advertisement of Nirodh should be such that a layman is enticed and attracted to buy the product and not deter by it. He supports the government’s notification through which it put a ceiling on the prices of condom sold in the country. But at the same time, he said that price capping make private players lose interest in condom manufacturing. “Luxury condoms are costlier and the availability of low priced government-aided Nirodhs is not as it should be. Therefore, price capping is very essential to encourage it use. But before doing that the government should hold talks with private players and reach a consensus on a maximum retail price,” he concluded.