German condom manufacturer Condomi AG recently surveyed 15,000 condom-users in Kenya for a foreign-aid funded AIDS prevention program. The problem? When users don't like a product, they won't use it. So if condom manufacturers have better data about user preferences, more people will use more condoms and have safer sex.
Exactly what the 15,000 Kenyans told Gothe in the survey, done in conjunction with Germany's KfW development agency, remains a trade secret. But he's happy to talk about the result: a vanilla-scented, golden brown condom he says people in sub-Saharan Africa are more likely to use — which is the whole point of the project.
"Sometimes it's more intelligent to think about the social and cultural adaptation of the product — for example, the color, the lubrication, the smell, the packaging," said the tousle-haired, jeans-clad 33-year-old.
Standard white latex just didn't do much for his African testers, it turns out.
"Why is the condom gold? Because gold means something very valuable," he said. "Why should a condom be white in this region?"
