Issue date: 11/5/08 Section: Editorial

Media Credit: Dale Lyons The Trojan Evolve Bus Displays condom options.

The Trojan Evolve National Bus Tour came through UDC on Wednesday, Sept. 24 and with games like racing to put a condom on a banana and tossing a pig into a hoop, the whole thing might have seemed a bit silly. But one look at the dry-erase board next to the pig toss and one could easily see that sexual health in America is a critical issue: a quarter of teenage girls have an STI (sexually transmitted infection) and 65 million Americans live with an incurable STI.
The purpose of the Evolve campaign is to remove the taboo of discussing issues of sexual health, to open up dialog about STIs and how to protect yourself, and to advocate for the use of condoms every time you have sex. The idea for the campus tour came after Trojan tried to get networks to air commercials during prime time television and most networks would not allow it.
"It's very important for people to understand the consequences of their sexual lifestyle choices" said Nyla Saleh, spokeswoman for Trojan. "Sixty-percent of television has some sort of sexual content, but dialog [about sexual health] was being stunted. We decided to take it directly to the people."
In addition to the banana-condom relay race and pig toss, there was also a quiz game with topics such as Trojan Treasure, Sex on Campus and STD 101 and the prize for each game was a free condom. Inside the Trojan Evolve bus, the tone was a little more serious. Computers were set up where students could make a pledge to advocate for condom use as an essential part of a sexually healthy lifestyle. Students were also able to record testimonials to ask others to sign the pledge, give shout-outs to those who live an "evolved" sexual health lifestyle, or say why they think it is important to use condoms. Prerecorded testimonials and a video with information about STIs were playing on screens at the other end of the bus.
The Evolve campaign also lobbies for comprehensive sexual health education in schools. The tour made stops at the DNC and RNC to promote the issue and they are currently gathering signatures for a petition that will be used for future advocacy efforts.
"There is a real need for education in America," said Saleh. "We want people to have the information so that if they choose to have sex, they know how to protect themselves."
One of the comments in the video playing in the bus seemed to sum things up very nicely: "Just slip it on, how hard is that?"
If you missed the free condoms from the Trojan Evolve Bus Tour, you can always drop by University Health Services in Building 44, Room A33 and grab a couple from the basket up at the window.

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