about the campaign

The BBC World Service Trust produced a two-year mass media campaign to make condoms more acceptable. Using a pesky parrot, the campaign aimed to normalise condoms and present condom users as smart and responsible. Launched in December 2007, the ‘Condom is Just another Word’ campaign ran in four phases over two years and reached over 150 million men across India.

Using distinct, rigorously researched and tested television and radio advertisements, outdoor media and on-ground activity, the 'Condom is Just another Word' campaign met its objectives of changing attitudes and perceptions towards condoms.

The focus of the campaign was to get men to talk about condoms, as this has a positive effect on use, and position condoms as a product that men use to show they are smart, responsible and care about themselves and their families. Making condoms more acceptable in a society where they are taboo is in itself a huge communication challenge. But it was converted into an opportunity through an interactive campaign strategy, whereby audiences became participants.

Our values were those of talking and smartness. As a result, our campaign tagline communicated that "those who talk are winners" or in Hindi Jo Bola Wohi Sikander, and "those who understand are winners" (Jo Samjha Wohi Sikander). The campaign’s mascot was an animated parrot, a very Indian (yet universal) symbol of 'smartness' and 'talking' who has an opinion about everything and a sense of humour.

More men discussed condoms as a result of the campaign, and were less embarrassed to buy condoms. A greater proportion of men now think that the use of condoms reflects smart and responsible behaviour. For more details on the impact of the campaign, see Campaign Results.

The campaign received global recognition at the prestigious Cannes Lion 2009 International Advertising Festival. It won a Bronze Lion in the Media category and was a Finalist in the Direct Response category. It also won a Gold at the Festival of Media, Valencia 2009.

Another significant achievement of the project is that the Government of India has adopted the campaign and has used the project’s outputs (TV and radio advertisements) for its own condom promotion efforts.

Watch this film that showcases the campaign and its impact