The Consent Condom Business That Has a Lot of People Talking

If you haven't seen, there's this Argentine company called Tulipán, along with an ad agency, BBDO Argentina, that recently released a condom called the "Consent Pack".


Simply put, the "Consent Pack" has buttons on all four sides of the box and can only be opened if all the buttons are pressed. Meaning that in theory, four hands would have to touch the box.

And they think that this would highlight the importance of consent as two people have to open the condom together.
And they think that this would highlight the importance of consent as two people have to open the condom together.
Reportedly, they started promoting this condom at the end of March and since they've been tweeting ads that feature slogans like:


Apparently, the condoms aren't yet for sale, although, right now, they are being given out for free at clubs and bars in Buenos Aires.

At first, there was a generally positive reaction to the product, with one headline saying:


But, then, you have people raising questions as to whether or not a condom that requires two sets of hands to open actually does anything to boost consent.
Furthermore, people started criticizing the product for minimizing what consent certainly means. With people on Twitter saying things like:






Apropos of that, the Chicago Tribune spoke to a sex education teacher by the name of Kim Cavill, who pointed out that the product can also be ableist as not everyone can move their hands in the specific way the box requires.

She went on to say that the condom won't be effective in preventing assaults because someone who's trying to force sex on someone can force someone to put their hands on the box. And then you have this person who committed assault saying 'What are you talking about? We used the Consent Condom!'
And Cavill also saying that the key to safe sex is not making a condom that is logistically harder to use.
On the other end, the likes of Mashable made a video debunking the Consent Pack's functionality by showing that it probably won't be too hard for someone to open it up with just two hands. However, regarding that, they didn't have the actual Consent Pack in the video. They simply sampled a box similar in shape and size.

As I type this, Tulipán has not responded to the criticisms and at this point, it doesn't look like they're going to do anything, really. I mean, the promotion for the Consent Pack is still their pinned tweet.

And I also imagine that they probably expected some of this—maybe even hoped for some of this. Now, as far as my takeaway on this, I think the whole situation is a bit ridiculous. Ludicrous, if you will.
Still and all, I don't think that men or women should be sexually assaulted (I'm making a really brave and controversial stand here), but this product is a failure and a success if you ask me. In my most humble opinion, it is a failure in preventing what it is trying to prevent, but it is a success in being an idea that sparks a conversation. Granted, a huge chunk of that conversation now is going from 'Wow, that's really stupid!' to expanding to the specifics around consent. So, there's that.
Most importantly, though, what are your thoughts?