Ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1st, condom manufacturer Durex has launched a Twitter campaign calling for the creation of a condom emoji to promote safe sex.
Durex hopes to promote safe sex with their new campaign
The campaign, using the hashtag #CondomEmoji on Twitter, hopes to persuade the Unicode Foundation, which regulates emojis, to include the "world's first official safe sex condom emojis" in its next round of icons.
"Emojis are a crucial part of how young couples connect and research suggests that the creation of official safe sex emojis are vital to inserting messages around protection into their sexual conversation," said Durex in a statement.
Further research commissioned by the condom brand found that 84% of 18-25 year olds said they feel more comfortable talking about sex using emojis, while a shocking 33% of 18-25 year olds claim not to care about safe sex and nearly half think that HIV will never affect them or their friends.
"In light of this research, the Durex brand is asking 1 million people to use and share the hashtag #CondomEmoji to represent their support of the creation of the world's first official safe sex emojis by the Unicode Consortium," says Karen Chisholm, Marketing Director, Durex USA.
"Emojis of this sort will enable young people to overcome embarrassment around the discussion of safe sex, encourage conversation and raise awareness of the importance of using condoms in protecting against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV and AIDS."
Watch Durex's promotional video here: