Condom packaging makes just about the worst error you can make

Full disclosure: I am not, and have never been, involved in the making, packaging or marketing of condoms. Other than “they stop you from having baby”, I have no specialist knowledge or insight into any stage of the condom manufacturing industry. 

What I do know, though: this was a really very extremely bad design for a condom wrapper.

You can see where they were going with this, can’t you? It did take me a while, admittedly: on first glance, it definitely looks like it says “go further without consent”. Like, it really does look like it says that the wearer of the condom should….go further without consent.

ON SECOND OR MAYBE THIRD OR FOURTH GLANCE, THOUGH: you notice the doughnut. Doughnut go further without consent i.e. do not go further without consent i.e. consent is good. Rather than “consent is bad”, which is definitely what the wrapper looks like it’s saying. 

The unfortunate design came from ‘personalised condom brand’ Say It With A Condom, who obviously intended it to promote consent rather than actively encourage people to ignore it. It even has an entire ‘Consent Condoms’ range, which it says is an attempt to “start a conversation about how to ask for consent before engaging in any sexual activity”, with less ambiguous designs including ‘Consent is never implied’ and ‘Silence is not consent’. 

The brand has since told Cosmopolitan that “when the design went through their usual feedback process, neither company employees or customers spoke up about any issues, so the condom packaging went ahead and was sold on the site.”

The condom has, probably quite rightly, been removed from Say It With A Condom’s website. Moral of the story: get a new designer. And consent is really good.