Congratulations are in order for Luis Acosta, winner of the NYC Condom wrapper design competition run by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Decided by popular vote, Acosta’s design, featuring a yellow power symbol (IEC 5009 – line partially within a broken circle), drew my attention to the many puns that can now be made when you turn on your computer.

Here’s what New York City Health Commissioner, Dr Thomas Farley, had to say about the design (from NPR):

“When I saw [the design], I said this is pure genius,” Farley told the crowd. “Everyone recognizes that symbol on their PC. People should use their own power to control their sexual health.” And once you see the power-on logo in a sexual context, it does have a dirty vibe to it. That’s the beautiful thing about designing a condom wrapper: It makes the most simple image seem erotic.

I didn’t even know New York City had a branded condom (they are specifically branded Lifestyles condoms). Apparently the program has been running since Valentines Day 2007 with the cute tagline – Get Some!

♺ Ping: NPR, Robert Smith, “Official Condom Design: New York’s New Sex Symbol”, 9 March 2010. Also listen to the radio broadcast version. Photo: Adaptation of Roadside ads for condoms by Alaskan Dude (crop and resize). This version and the original available under a CC BY 2.0 Generic licence.