Hey, Why Not Take a Stab at Designing Toronto’s Official Condom?

As most struggling artists understand, “exposure” can do wonders for a lacklustre career.

However, this new contest courtesy of Toronto Public Health (TPH) takes this idea quite literally.

They are turning to the public to design Toronto’s official condom wrapper.

The city is inviting people to submit their ideas for the new condom until October 10th. According to the contest homepage, they’re looking for designs that “represent our city” and reflect “who we are – and who we do.”

After a public vote, the winners will be chosen and invited to a gala award ceremony on November 15. The winning design will be available, for free, at sexual health clinics and other community sites throughout the city.

They even released an incredibly awkward promo video for the contest, which you can cringe at yourself below.

The most recent batch of branded condoms was released back in August and features the now iconic 3-D Toronto sign at Nathan Philips Square. Launched just in time for the new post-secondary school year, the city plans to hand out nearly 290,000 of them. Over the course of a single year, Toronto Public Health and its partner agencies typically hand out around 3.8 million condoms in the city.

That’s a whole lotta rubbers.

Photo: Richard Lautens / Toronto Star

Photo: Richard Lautens / Toronto Star

While the whole thing might seem like a silly publicity stunt, TPH believes that building buzz is very important for reducing sexually transmitted infections and preventing unplanned pregnancies.

“When condoms are much more available to be talked about and they’re put out in a fun and exciting way, you’ll find that a lot of people will talk about them, use them, and they’re much more easy to access,” TPH’s Lesley Belows of told the Toronto Sun in August.

So whether you’ve got an eye for design or not, we think it’s still worth it to enter. Just think: your artwork could be in thousands of bedrooms across the GTA. Granted, it will probably be in the garbage faster than you can say “chlamydia,” but regardless, it’s still a pretty cool idea and we’re happy the city is taking such a fun approach to sexual health.

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