Let's Get It On - Condom Applicator Wins Design Prize
by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK 
on 04. 1.07
Earlier this month there was a surprise winner of the Most Beautiful category at the Design Indaba awards in South Africa - a condom applicator was chosen by the Dutch designer Jurgen Bey. Beauty and condoms have never been intrinsically linked in my mind, but then again a device which encourages the use of condoms, the practice of safe sex and the prevention of the spread of HIV/Aids does seem like a beautiful idea. For some couples putting on a condom is a quick and painless action before the main event, for others it's a fiddly and awkward task best avoided for fear of ruining the heat of moment. The Pronto condom, invented by Willem van Rensburg (back in 2001) and designed by industrial designer Roelf Mulder of South Africa’s XYZ Design, was created to make the crucial act of putting on a condom as smooth as possible.
From the demonstration videos, one practical, and one rather more entertaining - clearly aimed at South Africans, the Pronto condom looks like a brilliant device. Thanks to a small plastic ring (pictured above), with just a snap and a click of the condom packet the condom can be applied in a second. We can't help wondering though, when the fallic carrot is gone, it is as easy as it looks when you really want to get it on? Pronto Condoms are available to buy in South Africa from all major pharmacies and online. Via: Reluct.com. For more smooth tips on How to Green Your Sex Life click here. ::Pronto Condoms
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Okay, I guess avoiding disease transmission falls into the category of "sustainable sex", but how is adding more instant plastic waste to our lives otherwise green?
I'd really like to know how well this works, too. It seems like a cool idea, though I'm trying to picture how it might work in sex ed classes.
um. isn't that un-ecofriendly since you're creating trash when you throw the condom applicator?
anonymous has a point, but one has to weigh the extra waste against the devastating effects of AIDS on the inventor's home continent of Africa (for example). Besides, couldn't the applicator be made of a biodegradable plastic like PLA (as long as it's compatible with the lubricant)? Anyone run a PLA fabrication business and want to make a sales pitch to XYZ designs?
Absolutely. Lets also be people-huggers and not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Fighting things like AIDS and poverty is a first step torward bringing milliosn out of poverty. Until people are safe and well-fed, they don't care much about the environment..
That thing can't possibly be any easier to use than a condom by itself. It's just more plastic for the landfill.
I understand the point about AIDS above, but I'm sorry - if they can't put on a condom, they will never do any better with that device.
This thing actually seems to make it easier to put it on, and one of the reason stated by many people for not using it is that "it kills the moment" and so on..
another gimmicky plastic item that is wholly unnecessary is the utter antithesis of green, and therefore why is it on this site?
i guess helping to keep population down is somewhat enviro friendly, but population reduction is probably better effected through natural means such as AIDS.
Impoverished and dead people are far better for the environment than wealthy alive people.
"The environment" includes humans. I can't believe some people still are happy when humans suffer and die..
Good point bennan, why don't you do the environment a favor and sequester come carbon...I seriously hope you were joking.
I am not joking. The per-capita impact to the natural environment of the largely impoverished persons living in China, India, or Africa is but a tiny fraction of that of wealthy industrialized nations.
"Until people are safe and well-fed, they don't care much about the environment."
If a person is that irresponsible, impatient, and moronic that they cannot apply a condom the old-fashioned way, then do you really think that person will do the right thing for the natural environment?
Of course humans are a part of the environment. But all environmentalists agree that we have far surpassed the carrying capacity of the earth, particularly at industrialized levels of consumption. Therefore anyone FOR continued growth/maintenance of the human race and its industrialization is AGAINST the natural environment and all its cute little critters.
Crude oil is a part of the environment too. So I guess you human-lovers don't care if it spills into the ocean, huh? CO2 is a natural part of the environment. Hey! Let's make more of it!
A condom is easy to put on. Come on. The most sustainable behaiviour is to reduce consumption. And really, do you think anybody in the world, where aid is a serious problem, would ever think of your gadget when it is time for the act. Unless in a materialistic society, this is an unecessary gadget and this is what,us designer, have to avoid doing.
this admittedly is a good idea, but like adult diapers should only be used by those who actually really need it(a condom applicator). after all, its not exactly hard to put on a condom. i think the prevention of the HIV/AIDS spread is way too important, so if you need to waste a little extra plastic in order to be safe, by all means go ahead.
also, seeing how easily the package snaps open, how safe is this packaging? it seems like it could easily be damaged if accidentally sat on or bent.
ONE brand condoms come in a sweet travel metal tin which protects the condoms, and the packaging is round with cool designs on the front.
go to onecondoms.com and learn more
oh and not to mention how are you suppose to pinch the reservoir tip to prevent an air bubble when you put these on?
WTF? If it isn't controversial enough that landfills and urban sidewalks are heavily polluted with a negligible percentage of disposed condoms full of ejaculated sperm, then we introduce the guise of a metropolitan condom applicator gadget designed not only to ease insertion but also small enough to jeopadize the animals that fall victim to such choke hazards. Add this condom applicator trash to the already numerous improperly disposed and heavily contaminated injection needles, pharmaceutical packaging, and lubricant containers. And for what? The momentary yet fleeting insatiable appetite to de-stress hopefuly from an orgasm if your lucky to evoke one?