A 40-foot bus brought education and free condoms to Ohio State's campus Tuesday.
The Trojan Corp, maker of America's best-selling brand of condoms, is funding a nationwide campaign to educate college students about safe sex. The campaign comes in the form of a Trojan bus, equipped with computers, educational TV programs, a display of Trojan products and a confessional booth designed to allow students "give a shout" about safe sex.
Representatives at the event, which took place outside the Wexner Center, asked students to sign an online petition to pledge to a sexually healthy lifestyle.
"The state of sexual health in America is the worst of any Western nation," said Kari Kuka, the communication manager and sexual educator of the tour.
According to the Trojan Web site, 19 million new sexually transmitted infections are diagnosed every year and 65 million Americans are living with an incurable STI.
"We're evolving from piggish behavior to sexually mature behavior," said Kuka. The "piggish" behavior Kuka said is not using a condom every time.
This "pig" theme can be seen in Trojan's latest advertising campaign: A commercial involving pigs in a bar until one pig goes to a condom machine and "evolves" to a real man.
The name of the bus tour, which kicked off in March and will visit 60 campuses before its conclusion in May, is the Trojan Evolve Tour.
Kuka said she is amazed high schools spend so much on abstinence education. She said Trojan would like to reach out to college students who are sexually active.
Nick Uhas, a senior in biology, said he remembers the topic of sex was taboo when he was younger.
"I remember watching TV at a friend's house and something came on about sex and my friend's mom turned off the TV," said Uhas, the off-campus Undergraduate Student Government senator. "My friend's older brother said the earlier we learn about it, the better. That's kind of stuck with me."
Next to the bus was a Trojan tent with lounge-style chairs and a sexual health trivia game where students could earn free condoms. There was also a game where students would put on pig noses, race to bananas, shout the expiration date of the condoms they were given and once they had correctly put the condom on the banana they earned a Trojan T-shirt.
Although some students said they were apprehensive of the large Trojan bus, most students found it helpful.
"People are going to do it anyway," Uhas said, "so why not be safe about it?"
However, some students said they thought Trojan pushing condom use even in monogamous relationships was overkill.
"I don't know how effective it will be because most people have already established their sexual habits," said Adrian Miller, a senior in criminology. "There's nothing wrong about people being in a relationship and not using a condom."
Angela Henderson can be reached at henderson.419@osu.edu.
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