It's been a little while since my last late night fumble in the back of a taxi, so I might be a bit out of touch with this one. But surely I can't be the only person that thinks that the product sampling scheme by Trojan condoms is doomed to failure.

The company has just announced that it's giving Sussex's taxi drivers 60,000 free condoms to hand out to their passengers on request.

Now I don't know about you, but I always found it embarrassing enough buying the things from a chemist. But asking some overweight, leery taxi driver for one, thereby sharing with him or her the intimate details of how I plan to spend at least a minute of my time later that evening? You must be joking.

In my day (which wasn't so long ago), there was also the problem that going home in a taxi with a girl didn't mean she was a 'dead cert'. In fact, leaning forward and asking the taxi driver for a condom would probably have killed whatever chance I had in the first place.

At least Trojan has had the good sense to restrict the offer to their Shared Pleasure condom, thereby eliminating the possibility of: 'Would sir like a Twisted Pleasure, an Extended Pleasure, a Magnum, or perhaps a little Mint Tingle?'

All the same, I can't see many takers for this generous offer, except perhaps the taxi drivers themselves. But that's the beauty of it. I don't imagine the employees of Radio Cabs will get through more than half a dozen samples on their own, which means the overall cost to Trojan of the media coverage generated by this exceptionally clever PR stunt will be somewhere around £4.49

Link