Networks OK TV Condom Ads on Prime Time

If you don't want your kids watching condom commercials, stay away from the WB network after 9 p.m. tonight, and NBC after 10.

While airing condom commercials is not against the law, networks have so far been unwilling to permit ads for condoms because they fear a "backlash family-values advocates," reports the New York Post.

Condom ads that did run were relegated to late nights when children were assumed to be asleep.

Until now.

Church & Dwight, which makes Trojan condoms, has negotiated a new ad campaign with NBC and the WB, and said it is making a pitch to other networks for more ads.

With a market estimated to be $400 million nationwide, it's not difficult to see why condom makers covet the heretofore inaccesible prime time market.

"I expect there will be people who do feel a need to react negatively because we're discussing sexuality," Jim Daniels, vice president of marketing for Trojan told the Post. "I hope most people will see this and acknowledge that these are responsible and appropriate discussion points."

Radio listeners are familiar with "Trojan Man," the baritone-voiced hero who appears just as the canoodling starts to heat up, and supplies the lovers with Trojan condoms.

But the TV spots will differ from the humor-laced radio ads in that Trojan will try to emphasize responsible behavior - i.e. safe sex.

"This is not an easy thing to get right," Daniels told the Post. "You can start sounding like a health class or too sophomoric."

The ads will detail statistics regarding sexually transmitted diseases that won't necessarily put the viewer in a playful, amorous mood, and in a nod to those who may not take too kindly to sex out of wedlock, the commercials even mention giving abstinence a try.