Durex is a brand of

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...

s and

personal lubricant Personal lubricants (colloquially termed lube) are specialized lubricants used during sexual acts, such as intercourse and masturbation, to reduce friction to or between the penis and vagina, anus or other body parts or applied to sex toys to red ...

s owned by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

company

Reckitt Benckiser Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trading as Reckitt, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition products. The company was formed in March 1999 by the merg ...

. It was initially developed in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

under the purview of the

London Rubber Company SSL International plc was a British manufacturer of healthcare products. Its best known brands were Durex and Scholl; other significant brands were Sauber and Mister Baby. The company's name was an abbreviation of ''Seton Scholl London Internati ...

and British Latex Products Ltd, where it was manufactured between 1932 and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. The London Rubber Company was formed in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

, and the Durex brand name ("Durability, reliability, and excellence") was launched in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

although London Rubber did not begin manufacturing own-brand condoms until 1932, in collaboration with a rubber technology student from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

named Lucian Landau. The first book on The London Rubber Company and the history of Durex condoms, written by Jessica Borge, was published in

September September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

by McGill-Queen's University Press. The London Rubber Company later merged with

SSL International SSL International plc was a British manufacturer of healthcare products. Its best known brands were Durex and Scholl; other significant brands were Sauber and Mister Baby. The company's name was an abbreviation of ''Seton Scholl London Internati ...

, since

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

which has been owned by the

Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term '' Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

company

. It is one of the best-selling condom brands around the world, with 30% of the global market. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Durex condoms were the second best-selling brand of condoms in the United States, with

Trojan condoms Trojan is a brand name of condoms and sexual lubricants manufactured by the Church & Dwight Company. Trojan condoms were started by Merle Leland Youngs in the 1910s after he moved to New York City. The major condom manufacturer before Youngs ...

being the first. It is supplied by, among others, the company

Karex Karex Berhad is a Malaysian condom manufacturer, one of the largest in the world. It produces more than five billion condoms a year and one in every five condoms globally. The company also supplies condoms to marketing brands like Durex. Operati ...

. In 2007 the last factory making Durex condoms in the UK stopped manufacturing and production has since moved to China, India and Thailand. The modern range includes a wide variety of

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...

condom, including the ''Sheik'' and ''Ramses'' brands in North America, and the ''Avanti'' condom. Durex also provides a range of lubricants and

sex toy A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate human sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibratin ...

s. Although Durex was not an official sponsor of the Olympic Games, Durex provided 150,000 free condoms to more than 10,000 athletes that competed in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London.

Durex in China

Although condoms are not a widely used form of contraception in China, with only around 10% of sexually active people using them, among Chinese condom users Durex has a dominant market share of 45% as of 2015. Due to a relatively conservative culture surrounding sex, Durex's marketing in China is often indirect and subtle, often involving lighthearted humour. Marketing is done almost exclusively on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

. Durex has operated an account on the

microblogging Microblogging is a form of social network that permits only short posts. They "allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links",. Retrieved June 5, 2014 which may be the major reason for ...

site Sina Weibo in 2011, which had 2.65 million followers and more than 20,000 posts as of 2018. Durex targets Chinese users on Sina Weibo aged from 20 to 40, and primarily men under 35 years old. In 2011, Durex began cross-industry advertising tie-ins with the

antivirus software Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the nam ...

company

Trend Micro is an American-Japanese multinational cyber security software company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and Irving, Texas, United State.Other regional headquarters and R&D centers are located around East Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and ...

, using the common themes of "antivirus" and "security".

References

External links

* *
Website about the book ''Protective Practices''
including background information on LRC {{condom Condom brands British brands Reckitt brands Products introduced in 1915