Like a phoenix from the flames, a great idea rises again.
Some time back over at SpreadFirefox.com, we started an effort to make a college poster to help spread Firefox. The results of this effort was a great poster that showed a rear view close-up of a person wearing bluejeans with a Firefox-wrapped condom in the hip pocket. The slogan was "Always use protection." Everyone involved loved it and we were days from taking it to print.
The project was spiked because of concerns that it would offend some people. One of the participants in that poster effort has revived the idea and while it's not a poster, this variation makes a very nice desktop image. Go check it out at mandolux.
Thanks to Chris for the heads up.
Posted by asa at March 27, 2005 04:37 PMI must say. That is genius.
Posted by: Jason Lustig on March 27, 2005 08:50 PMI can't understand the essence. And more, imho, to compare our beloved Firefox with a condom hardly would fetch some people too. Awesome.
Posted by: gass512 on March 27, 2005 09:58 PMthat is truly fabulous. I think you should take that to print, it's genius and deserves to be used.
Posted by: Peter Hewitt on March 27, 2005 11:05 PMSometimes offending a few people is worth the exposure. When we start going out of our way to sanitize everything because of a few hypersensitive wussies, we become French. ;)
Posted by: Grey Hodge on March 28, 2005 12:22 AMThis would be a nice double-ad, for Firefox and for safer sex. The WHO will love us
Posted by: Mac on March 28, 2005 01:10 AMYes, if the poster had caused controversy, the media coverage would have been an excellent boost to people's awareness of the browser!
Posted by: Dan100 on March 28, 2005 01:20 AMI had forgotten about the poster competition. Why weren't we informed at the time? I was really looking forward to the poster being anounced... until I forgot about it, that is.
Posted by: David Naylor on March 28, 2005 01:52 AMWell, I would launch it. If you're afraid of offended people, just don't luanch it in America. Other continents (like Europe) would love it. :)
Posted by: Nanaki on March 28, 2005 02:26 AMWho exactly would it offend?
People who are for the preservation and conservation of STDs?
People who find aesthetic beauty from the sight of a pregnant 15-year old?
Posted by: Chris Nelson on March 28, 2005 04:50 AMYou say this is for colleges? In that case, this is a great idea. If you're going for a more "mainstream" audience, however, this isn't the best.
Posted by: jordan on March 28, 2005 07:10 AMIt's really nice :)
Where can I get hi quality version in some editable form? I would like to translate this ad to Czech language. thanks.
Posted by: Jindrich Pozlovsky on March 28, 2005 09:02 AMVery nice poster :) definitly worth printing :)
Posted by: Joël Kuiper on March 29, 2005 05:41 AMNot offensive to me, but not impressive either. I think it's vaguely condescening to college students; while many fit the bill of thinking largely with (or about) penises, that doesn't mean they all do.
Posted by: James "Kovu" Russell on March 30, 2005 05:44 PMI would really like a good quality PDF of this original image to print and put up around the school. I don't think it would offend anyone, and even if it did, that's great, because it means more publicity. Besides, we can't sanitise things to the point where nobody would be offended, that's just stupid. Anyway, using condoms is good! It's not patronising James, it's just a reminder and an amusing comparison. =)
I would really like to be able to produce a good copy of that ad, so if there is one lying around on somebody's hard drive ti would be fantastic if you could generally release it rather than just that poor quality jpg.
Thanks a lot.
