We’re sure that Washington D.C. meant well when it started giving away free condoms in order to help stop the spread of H.I.V. in the US city with the highest AIDS rate. One problem: The condoms suck.

From the Washington Post:

Volunteers concerned about why interest had dropped began asking people who had picked up the condoms. They were told about packets ripping in purses or bursting open in pockets. As a result, recipients said they had little confidence that the condoms would offer protection.

In addition, expiration dates on some of the Chinese-made condoms were illegible.

“People were saying, ‘These packets aren’t any good,’ ” said Franck DeRose, executive director of an organization called the Condom Project, one of those involved in the grass-roots distribution system.

Well, that’s really disappointing. Consumers also don’t like the way the package looks. It’s emblazoned with the slogan “Coming Together to Stop HIV in D.C.” We nominate those words as the very last thing we want to read before having sex. We could probably think of worse things to print on a condom, but we don’t want to.

According to the Post, the D.C. health department doesn’t think the condoms are a problem. “To date, we have not received any substantive complaints,” spokeswoman Leila Abrar said in a statement.

We would be remiss not to point out how cool the NYC subway condom is. It’s free and cool looking, and as far as we know it doesn’t explode in your purse.

Concerns Affect D.C. Condom Giveaway [Washington Post] (Thanks, Les!)
NYC Condoms
(Photo:Jeff Kubina)

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