February 16, 2008 | Sex & Society

New York City redesigns city condom

Newly designed condoms are now available from NYC, and the city is hoping people will "Get some" over the Valentine's Day weekend. Yesterday street teams handed the cool prophylactics to passersby, and a media campaign, on television and radio and with ads on public transit, will soon start.

Monica Sweeney from the Health Department explained: "We want to give away as many condoms as people will use because we're trying to make New York City an even safer place to have sex, and this is a powerful way to do it." 

With about 100,000 New Yorkers already infected with HIV/AIDS, and a concern about unplanned pregnancies, the city is hoping to encourage more people to practice safer sex.

Free condoms are nothing new in the city. Each year the city has handed out about 1.5 million condoms monthly. Last year they redesigned the packaging and doubled the number of condoms they give away; New York's Catholic community leaders responded by accusing Mayor Michael Bloomberg of "blanketing our neighborhoods with condoms." Hmmmmm, not a bad idea...