SHIMLA- A HW reader in Shimla brought our attention to the new advertisement campaign in Shimla by a condom manufacturing company. A few government mini buses, running on local routes throughout the day, have covered every side of the buses with ‘Manforce coffee flavored condoms’ written all over them, both in English and Hindi to make sure there isn’t any discrimination on the basis of the respective literacy status of individuals. A poster of Sunny Leone is must to remind people that they all desire sex, thus, appealing them to flavor it in coffee with their newest line of flavored condoms. There isn’t anything to hide about sex. It’s a natural instinct and a basic human need. Moreover, the population of India is on rise. The protective and preventive sexual behavior must be promoted.

That’s actually one of the most effective, perhaps, the best method of advertisement; mobile throughout the city and impossible to ignore by anyone. The chances of being ignored have been substantially reduced by Sunny Leone poster and the overwhelming bus, printed with shouting words. Towards the rare side, there is a small massage box saying the condom prevents HIV AIDS, but the font is very small as compared to the picture and the name of the company, and is hardly noticeable. We guess, that should have been the focus of emphasis. At every bus stoppage, it grabs the eyes of all standing in wait of buses. Of course, the HRTC is paid handsome rent for lending the space on the its buses.

However, we wonder why the advertiser and the HRTC forgot to consider a bit more socially sensitive approach before going for it. If a soap is advertised on the same bus, we conclude that the product is used daily by all age groups. It’s not the same with condoms. They aren’t meant for all age groups, and you are displaying it to kids, school going children, and even to the families standing in wait of buses.

Here, in a city like Shimla, led by the borrowed beliefs, sthe common perception with which most of us grow up, direct us to see the concept of sexual behavior as a taboo, and the most uncomfortable topic to be stripped off at any social place. We live in a society that sees opposite sexes as aliens when it comes to sexual behavior. Perhaps, the public isn’t quite prepared to filter logic from the manipulated reality. Their minds are prone to be hijacked by the mess created by the instinctive curiosities to explore the opposite sex and the adulterated fantasies, which they create in their internal secret world when social norms force them to repress its expression.

Sunny Leone came to Bollywood from porn industry, and that’s the trick of utilizing maximum, not from her face, but the identity she carries with herself; being a porn actor. Porn is the manipulated form of sexual behavior, and doesn’t come under the circumference of natural human behavior and the social ethics. That makes it the duty of each of us to behave like a part of the society in which we are living and forming at the same time.

In the highly competitive world of marketing/product advertisement, for the business minded people, the trouble in being ethical and sensitive towards the society is that it deprives them from utilizing the best selling phenomenon. It’s not about only condom manufactures; newspapers, magazines, electronic media, TV shows, cinema etc. long for opportunities to sell their products, and sex is best tool to catch the attention of the consumers.



The advent of the Internet has extended a hell of safe opportunities for the media, mainly for the print media. Especially, the Hindi newspapers are fetching huge traffic on their websites by using the sexually provocative content, which they serve like news.

They would title a post, “ Bollywood main badhi ashleelta, Dekhiye ye 15 photos”, and would post 15 most spicy pictures of celebs. If they find it hard to find still images on the Internet, then they would improvise with screen shots from videos.



The online editions of Amar Ujala has 18+ sections, Dainik Bhaskar features its spicy images in Bollywood section and so on. English dailies are second in the league for they run these sections under safe titles like sexual health.

Then the telecommunication services use text messages, inviting to join this girl or that girl in the “Garma-garma batain (Adult gossips)”. Here is a message from BSNL:



These messages, in some cases, will go onto the extent of mentioning a fictitious name, age, which is always between 20-22 years, and the name of the institute nearby your location. In Shimla, RKMV is used to convince the subscriber that the girls are real. They sell it because people buy it, either trapped by the lusting curiosity or intentionally.

Who cares about the ethics and social responsibilities when it’s about profit? Why any businessman or advertiser would bother about anyone else around him/her? That’s the way Indian people have always been, making sure they survive amidst self-centered crowd. The profits matter because money makes the mayor go. All pleasures, happiness, and desires materialize with a touch of wealth. Moreover, being selfish, ignorant, and inconsiderate to already corrupted society doesn’t make one feel guilty of being corrupt himself.

A required level of the guilt is must to alarm an individual when he/she acts against the social harmony, behaves with extreme selfishness, and go on to exploit socially unethical tools to meet the ends. The guilt is what prevent us from repeating the same behavior and to correct the future course of our actions. That’s what the society lacks presently; sense of guilt and sensibility towards humanity.

However, there is a way out of this sickness. One needs to stand with the moral principles regardless to any comparison with what others behave like. We need to stop hiding our own villainy behind the curtain of references to that of others. Each of us makes society or public, and when we refer to it, we need not to exclude ourselves. Why is so that when it comes to collective responsibilities and duties towards the society, everyone except yourself or myself is public?

In nutshell, removing Sunny Leone or the condom advertisement isn’t going to solve the issue. We need to peep deep inside our own mind. We don’t support stereotype attitude in our criticism of any topic, so, as a suggestion to the manufacturers and to the HRTC, they should consider the same advertisement with some useful message like promotion of safety or prevention against STD (Sexually Transmitted Diseases), and avoid Sunny Leone or any provocative imagery on public transport. That’ll make it more reasonable for the public. We would request the media and telecommunications companies to follow the same.