• by Karl Greenberg , March 10, 2012

Sir Richard's, the Boulder, Colo.-based maker of condoms, has launched an effort that makes fun of Clear Channel's radio personality Rush Limbaugh. The condom company is a joint venture of ad agency TDA_Boulder, and a group of investors, including Alex Bogusky, formerly of Crispin, Porter and Bogusky.

The campaign came together fast on the heels of the truculent toreador of intellectual turpitude's bashing of Sandra Fluke, which included the generous use of "slut." The outré condom brand (which is a for-profit venture, but with a philanthropic component) on Thursday launched a parody campaign, "Sluts Unite," whose motif is along the lines of "we're all sluts now." 

The effort includes a Web site, slutsunite.org, and social media for the Sex-Positive movement in the form of a “Slut’s Oath” and 24 free avatars, such as “In Sluts We Trust,” “My Dad Is A Slut,” “Slut Is My Co-Pilot,” “Lil’ Slut,” and “I Think Therefore I Slut.”

The campaign also has an official oath: "I believe that sex represents more than just the creation of children. I believe it is an enjoyable, healthy and a profound part of the human experience. I believe that the responsible use of birth control is an essential component of a mature, civilized society. And if these beliefs make me a slut in some people’s eyes, so be it. I will stand united with my fellow sluts, now and always.” The site borrows some design elements, specifically a plaid motif heart, from Sir Richard’s Condoms’ identity, and has, at the page bottom, a tiny link to Sir Richard’s (www.sirrichards.com), but otherwise doesn’t promote the product.

"We thought it would be good to do something immediate," says Jonathan Schoenberg, CD at TDA_Boulder. "The team concepted it and in a matter of an hour had it up on the Web." The brand, which launched a year-and-a-half ago, has several thousand followers on Facebook, and has already gotten noticed for the new effort. "It seems people are getting it, and they really seem to appreciate it, which is good. Birth control is something we rely on, and it's abhorrent for a civilized society not to embrace that," he says.

The Sir Richard's brand launched its biggest marketing push last February with targeted ads and a digital campaign, as well as a design-forward packaging plan that involves the above-mentioned plaid theme. Schoenberg tells Marketing Daily that the brand recently started a subscription service where consumers can order online for regular home delivery.

He says the condoms are also now in over 300 natural-products stores, which he says is a space Sir Richard's can own because the brand's products aren't made with glycerin, parabens, spermicide or casein (the absence of which makes them vegan-friendly.) "We have a lot of access to Whole Foods and stores in that arena, which is really going well for us." He adds that the brand also has product-placement programs with boutique hotels.

On the philanthropic side, with every condom purchased Sir Richard’s delivers a condom to developing countries. The company has, for example, delivered half a million of its condoms to Haiti.