Please release "Always Use Protection" condom Poster

Posted by komencanto on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 07:20Spreading Firefox

NOTE ADDED LATER:
"Thanks to Chris Messina who has heeded the call and pointed us to a great quality copy of the Firefox Condom Poster so that when we print the poster it is still legible. The rest of this post is now obsolete. Thanks to everyone for helping to track this good copy down. Have fun using the poster!"

Check this out and tell me you don't love it: Low quality Firefox Condom Poster. I think it's the best piece of Firefox marketing just about ever. I showed it to some people at school and they found it amusing and were immediately curious to know what Firefox was and how it could protect them against viruses and spyware. Remember, according to surveys this is the biggest selling point of Firefox. So why the hell isn't this the flag-bearer of our college campaign, being put up at unis around the world?

This post by Asa pretty much sums it up. (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/007823.html)

"Some time back over at SpreadFirefox.com, we started an effort to make a college poster to help spread Firefox. The results of this effort was a great poster that showed a rear view close-up of a person wearing bluejeans with a Firefox-wrapped condom in the hip pocket. The slogan was "Always use protection." Everyone involved loved it and we were days from taking it to print. The project was spiked because of concerns that it would offend some people."

Now, doesn't that seem crazy? Without a good PDF version of that poster it isn't possible to print it out without it looking terrible and illegible. As discussed in the comments below it seems that very few people would be offended, and even if they were, it might even turn out to be beneficial! If you agree with me and want a nice PDF of this poster please rate this post highly or add a comment of support. Hopefully that will convince whoever has it stashed away to release it to the public.

komencanto's blog | login or register to post comments | 72411 reads

The complete dish

Submitted by factoryjoe on Mon, 05/02/2005 - 14:13.

If anyone's interested, I've written up the story of the origin of this poster, with links to early artwork and ideas!

Chris

Nice

Submitted by maccise on Fri, 04/22/2005 - 23:05.

Cool concept!

The only way to know if it wi

Submitted by UnrulyGrrl99 on Thu, 04/21/2005 - 18:27.

The only way to know if it will offend, is to ACTUALLY PUT IT OUT THERE. And if it does
offend, SO WHAT?!? There is nothing crude, obnoxious or outright offensive about this
potentially wonderfully effective poster. I say put it out there.
Any other decision goes totally against the reason Firefox even exists.
Put it up anywhere and everywhere you can.
I certainly will

School

Submitted by dlichterman on Thu, 04/21/2005 - 04:10.

Everyone at school loved this, I think we need to try and use it!

Put 3 up

Submitted by Jalenack on Wed, 04/20/2005 - 23:18.

I just printed and posted 3 of these posters for my highschool. And they seem to be getting plenty of interest. IMO, this is the best FF promotion yet.

It's already started...

Submitted by wrprice on Wed, 04/20/2005 - 15:15.

The recent c|net article that Asa referenced in one of his "lazy press" posts includes the poster as an aside, with a thumbnail in the main article.

It doesn't take much, does it? :)

I'm glad that this poster was

Submitted by komencanto on Thu, 04/21/2005 - 08:05.

I'm glad that this poster was in that article, which unfortunately isn't very positive. I think it's good publicity really, especially at at time when out security record is under scrutiny.

--
robertwiblin AT hotmail DOT com

Photo feature

Submitted by factoryjoe on Thu, 04/21/2005 - 18:07.

Check out the full photo feature.

American public middle school

Submitted by cgriego on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 22:53.

American public middle schools are required by law to hand out condoms to students who request them and are required by law not to inform the parents. This is not an offensive college poster. And if it is, allow the individual college's postings guidelines decide. I attend an art college and this would be an excellent poster and nobody would be offended.

I go to seminary,

Submitted by shakey_snake on Thu, 04/21/2005 - 05:40.

and I'm pretty sure none of the students would be offended.
School administration, yeah probably, but not the student body.

I love this!

Submitted by BigRiz on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 21:07.

This is great! It's entertaining and grabs attention. And since it's slightly controversial as well, news providers would publish this just to say something about it, and that is free advertising! If only I win the lottery or something, I'd put up billboards showing this ad! It would work like magic

just remembered...

Submitted by BigRiz on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 21:16.

I just remembered of a case where some 2 years ago in Malta, during some electoral campaign, someone put up a billboard with Bart Simpson mooning and some political message written on his ass! I remember everyone was talking about it and all major newspapers published photos of it. And no one was really offended, but took it as a joke

It Would Make Great Marketing

Submitted by DJC on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 20:22.

I love the image. It's amusing (always a good thing in advertising) and it's ever so slightly controversial, which is also great for publicity.

In my opinion, I believe a whole load of places would report this or publish something on it, and would really help our efforts.

As for the British person who said they'd be offended: How? Why? It's a thousand times better than any shower gel adverts or any soap you watch on TV or anything really...

I'm British. No problem here.

An original in BMP format or another uncompressed format would be great.

http://www.factorycity.net/sf

Submitted by Fointy on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 20:12.

http://www.factorycity.net/sfx/always_use_protection.jpg

Nice find! How'd you find it?

Submitted by me at work on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 20:14.

Just wondering...

---

Founder, Firefox Materials project

Team Firefox: WP

errr

Submitted by LouCypher on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 23:25.

scroll up

I've made the wallpaper version from factoryjoe's poster but I'll ask him first before I can publish it.

SFX Sidebar | SFX Search Plugin

mymarker

Teh wallapper

Submitted by LouCypher on Sat, 04/16/2005 - 03:05.

And here's the wallpaper.

SFX Sidebar | SFX Search Plugin

mymarker

Attn.: I'm blind

Submitted by me at work on Sat, 04/16/2005 - 00:47.

Remember that and all is well.

---

Founder, Firefox Materials project

Team Firefox: WP

So that's what happened...

Submitted by wrprice on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 19:29.

... to the College Poster Contest.

I remember submitting the "Always use protection." slogan and being told that it was chosen and a poster would be announced "shortly." It's nice to finally see what became of that.

I'm all for releasing it. Granted, I simply WANT a copy, but since it was INTENDED for a College market it should be evaluated in that regard. It's a lot less offensive than a lot of homemade posters I've seen around campus.

Release it. :-)

I've made a quick effort on t

Submitted by Stephen - StopIE.com on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 18:19.

I've made a quick effort on this. I airbrushed out the text in Photoshop, blew up the picture and put vector text in.

I've made a gmail account for it, login and download the files. (They are being uploaded right now)

1. Goto gmail.com
2. User name: firefox.condom
3. Password: ffcondom

I've got the original Photoshop file and a PSD up there. Please if you make improvements feel free to put them there also.

-Stephen

The original

Submitted by factoryjoe on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 18:25.

You might as well save yourself the trouble, though I appreciate your effort, and get the real thing.

Chris

:D I haven't seen it before,

Submitted by Kyla on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 03:03.

:D I haven't seen it before, but I love it. If there is ever a high quality version released I'll be sure to put it up at school.

To those people saying that t

Submitted by komencanto on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 22:25.

To those people saying that they will post it up, that's great, but the point of this post is to try to convince the powers that be to release the PDF of this file, instead of the blocky poor quality JPG that we have now. If you try to print of this JPG the text is almost illegeble and it looks pretty ugly.
Hopefully someone will respond about the PDF soon.
--
robertwiblin AT hotmail DOT com

If you agree with me or want

Submitted by FearlessFred on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 23:32.

If you agree with me or want a nice PDF of this poster please rate this post highly or add a comment of support. Hopefully that will convince whoever has it stashed away to release it to the public.

People rated this post high (it has a 5,00, after all) and they commented. Of course, with your post and the mention of some people thinking the poster could offend (and this being the main reason for not publishing it), it will generate a discussion about it being offensive or not and whether it's worth it to make a pdf version available. Most people here say it's not offensive and a good way to campaign for Firefox. So, what exactly do you want us to comment?

IRC message

Submitted by me at work on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 23:07.

Your thread is annoying me with lack of any good response, so I did this.

[17:49:56]
<Tom>
http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=node/view/13903

[17:50:38] <Tom> reply to it, with anything, its annoying
:(

[17:53:21] <Asa_> nah :-)

[17:53:53] <Tom> drat you!

Straight from Asa himself: You're not getting a response.

---

Founder, Firefox Materials project

Team Firefox: WP

tom

Submitted by

on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 20:01.

Tom, please don't cut and paste conversations we have on IRC or in email to a public discussion without asking me first. That's just plain rude behavior.

- A

that ad is a public service!

Submitted by ghaspias on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 11:26.

SFX Team is so narrow minded!

You are on the front line in browser development, but then you are totally conservative in other areas!

Please, people, this is the 21st century! There is no clothes, drinks or games advertising without more or less explicit sexual references... everybody should be contributing to spread the message of safe sex! Benneton does it... it's public service...what excuse do you have for not doing it? It's the correct thing!!
How old are you guys, anyway?

You are really some kind of control freaks, that what puts me away from SFX.

What are you talking about? T

Submitted by Jitka on Thu, 04/21/2005 - 05:38.

What are you talking about? This isn't about safe sex, it's about safe browsing.

And you're /on/ SFX, so how can you be "put away from" it?

Why is that?? What do I have

Submitted by komencanto on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 01:00.

Why is that?? What do I have to do>?? Ah!

--
robertwiblin AT hotmail DOT com

Uk offended - where do you live ?

Submitted by Duncan B on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 21:39.

Some people will take offence to anything, because they like to feel offended and it gives them something to complaint about. This gives them a sense of purpose and helps to fill their sad little lives.

What I find offensive is the comment that its more likely to cause offence in the UK, I've never read such rubbish.

There, thats my life filled with purpose for another day. I'm off now to go get a life. If I can find one here in Britain.

UK Offended?

Submitted by wd4ahz on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 03:14.

The country with "Page 3 Girls" and who gave us Benny Hill and Monty Python offended by a partially hidden mock condom wrapper? I don't think so!

I think it's a clever and humorous way to spread Firefox. If it gets people talking about Firefox ... hasn't it done it's job?

C'mon ... lighten up! It's clever, makes a point, and makes people think. All good things!

Why not make the PDF available to download elsewhere? See lots of Firefox stuff all over ... why not this?

UK offended

Submitted by Duncan B on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 21:38.

I think you missed the sarcasm in my post. I would love to be able to print a high quality version of this brilliant poster.
We,ve even got TV commercials for female sanitary products.
How a spoof condom poster can offend anyone is beyond me.
Just about the only taboo in the UK now is Tobacco Advertising.

Tobacco advertising is illega

Submitted by M2Ys4U on Sat, 04/16/2005 - 13:55.

Tobacco advertising is illegal now, I think...

M2Ys4U™

Spread spread spread!

Submitted by orangeacid on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 19:19.

Wow I've got to post this around!

This would be perfect in any college! It would strike a chord with randy or sexwise teenagers. If I saw this advert somewhere and didn't know about firefox, it would almost certainly be the first thing I looked up on google when I got home.

I also aggree with the person who said this would go well in a hospital.

P.S. I'll try and stick this up in my school somewhere. It will create waves of controvery but it should be great for spreading the fox :)

-----------
orange|acid

Great Poster!

Submitted by FearlessFred on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 15:19.

I am pretty sure this would make a great poster for Western Europe, at least. In Germany, the AIDS prevention campaign has posters up everywhere. Hardly anyone would be offended by a condom ( especially in its wrapper and only half visible, too). Few people would find a condom wrapper offensive. Those who have a problem with the idea of condoms will most probably not even realize what they see on the poster. (Which would, of course, lead to them not getting the message either, but I don't think that's a problem)
So, I find this a great poster - especially for the college campaigns.

This will make a impact in South Africa

Submitted by kmf on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 12:12.

I want PDF version NOW.
I'm printing it .... and I'll put it somewhere ... like in the Company Bathroom

In America no, but in the UK,

Submitted by Kroc on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 14:59.

In America no, but in the UK, yes - I find this offensive and off topic, and if this were printed anywhere in the UK I can assure you that complaints would flood in. Any other British agree with this?

___________________________________________________
Anybody else noticed that posting a download firefox link in their signature on spreadfirefox.com is pointless?

...

Submitted by Firegirl1508 on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 08:52.

I don't agree with that at all. As a British person I can say that I would not be offended by the poster, nor do I think that anyone I know would be. I mean, not only is it centred around a pun.. but even posters about actual condoms don't cause issues. I've seen Durex adverts out there..

We've moved a long way since the dark ages when sex was a forbidden topic of conversation and condoms were taboo. You don't see people gasping and running away or going to complain to a shop assistant when they walk past a shelf containing condoms on sale. Targetted at the right publications or posted in the right areas I don't think the poster would cause any problems at all.

Re: In America no, but in the UK

Submitted by jrickard on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 07:49.

Hmmm... a condom that prevents "pop-ups"? :-)

In reply to the above, and as someone who is British:- I don't believe this ad would cause offense to more than a tiny percentage of people. Most of use see far more "provocative" adverts on billboards etc every day of the week.

Why should Firefox have to tread gently just because it's open source rather than commercial?

Granted, but it's something s

Submitted by Kroc on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 21:00.

Granted, but it's something some will agree with and others won't. It's a moot point, often known as trolling too, doh! :P

___________________________________________________
Anybody else noticed that posting a download firefox link in their signature on spreadfirefox.com is pointless?

Nope

Submitted by orangeacid on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 19:14.

Nope I'm afraid I dont aggree with this at all. In fact I cant think of a single person I know that would find a condom offensive - most people think they are great at my school - you dont get you're girlfriend pregant (not a perticulary common view in my year but hey) and it protects from STIs. What could possibly be bad about that?

My and my mates perants don't seem too bothered either. As far as they see condoms they're just protection against getting a kid at 14 and possibly ruining your life. The condom is in its packet, only half visible, and doesn't say 'Durex' on, so whats the problem?

The busses in Derby once had a picture of an unwrapped and greasy condom on the side, and I only ever heard one person complain about that. And that person hadn't got anything to do / any friends / and kids / any life.

Rock on the condom advert campaign \m/ O.o \m/

-----------
orange|acid

No... I don't agree What t

Submitted by M2Ys4U on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 15:35.

No... I don't agree

What the hell is wrong with condoms?
M2Ys4U™

I'm thinking about mums and d

Submitted by Kroc on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 16:00.

I'm thinking about mums and dads, if they don't already moan about how bad advertising is today, this certainly would be along those lines.

Maybe as a poster in Colleges/Uni's but this isn't really advertising for n00bs and parents, any thoughts?

___________________________________________________
Anybody else noticed that posting a download firefox link in their signature on spreadfirefox.com is pointless?

When I get some cash

Submitted by Sharkscott on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 14:37.

When I get paid this weekend I will print off some copies and put them around campus at ASU. They should be up by next week.

"and alone and without his nest, shall the eagle fly across the sun"

Firefox Materials: Not to be ignored

Submitted by me at work on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 13:43.

Steps to being a real Winner:

Visit Firefox Materials
Hit CTRL+F
Type in "protection"
Open the link in a new tab
Present to the crowd high quality versions of Always use Protection
Lean back as the girls swoon at your very name

Ladies, ladies! Also, it's in the Mandolux archives, but whatever.

---

Founder, Firefox Materials project

Team Firefox: WP

Thanks, I already knew about

Submitted by komencanto on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 13:56.

Thanks, I already knew about that one. It's a great screen background, but not exactly the poster to put up around the school that I am looking for.
--
robertwiblin AT hotmail DOT com

Offending people means contro

Submitted by njsykora on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 12:22.

Offending people means controversy and that attracts customers eventually. I think this could benefit us far more than any other poster design.
-----

w00t to all

Shocker

Submitted by orangeacid on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 19:15.

Ever wondered why shock rockers such as manson have fans such as me?

-----------
orange|acid

looks good to me

Submitted by bersl2 on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 11:15.

Very apropos... it most definitely will strike a chord with the college audience.

And, might we have a new item for the Store? ;)

This would make a great poster

Submitted by lain on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 09:46.

I'm not offended

Submitted by chrisdavistech.com on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 09:13.

it doesn't mention condoms, nor does it make an analogy to them... it just uses verbage that condom advocates also happen to use.
I remember seeing in the Sunday comics the "Mother Goose and Grimm" strip where it said "Surgeon General warning: 'Always wear your Rubbers'" and pictured Grimmy Running through the puddles with galoshes on! On the offensiveness scale meter I would have to rate them about the same.
Why not hang up that poster at the health clinic...kill two birds with one stone that way!!
I also agree that any negative exposure (likely very low) would largly be overshadowed by any media buzz about it!

Not offensive at all! But...

Submitted by Scubaroo on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 12:29.

...condoms prevent popups?

Would be best to target certain countries, and environments...

Submitted by Kris Silver on Thu, 04/14/2005 - 15:49.

To minimise any possibility of complaint. I think its great and is a truly powerful, blunt message as to how much safer Firefox is, and it will hopefully make people realise the seriousness of it, but make light of the situation. I can see some people thinking...so using IE I could get STD's - which if they laugh about it great, if they don't, well that could to be dangerous thing.

I would agree sadly the UK may not be ideal, saying that certain counties probably would be ok in most countries and so could really maximise positive effects whilst minimising complaints. That of course means some serious thinking from Mozilla persons as to where to target which might be another step to overcome. I hope it works..and think it would work a treat if done properly!

This is just getting silly

Submitted by jrickard on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 07:59.

Firstly, to any teens here living with your mums and dads, please don't imagine that their squeamish attitude to the idea of you (their darling offspring who they still half-think of as children) having sex is the same as their attitude when amongst peers.

Secondly, the idea that this might be controversial... well *if* it is then that's excellent! Remember, there's no such thing as bad publicity - the advert would get Firefox loads of free press and TV coverage.

printed off

Submitted by acfrazier on Fri, 04/22/2005 - 18:04.

I printed one off and am going to post it up somewhere, but i'm undecided.

cut off the white

Submitted by acfrazier on Fri, 04/22/2005 - 18:06.

alright, i'm almost ready to post the poster up!
i'll post more when I get it posted up.

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