Latex loves

Global Protection keeps you covered

By CHRISTINE LIU

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On the sixth floor of a duct-exposed building located in Marine Industrial Park, I'm up to my ears in condoms. A copious assortment from ONE beckons for curious inspection, in signature circular packaging sporting colorful designs and cheekier captions—a bold rooster entitled "one for the early riser" or a rustic wood-cut illustration of a man and his beaver as "one for old times." Soon, after strolling through hallways plastered with pro-prophylactic posters (a cow in galoshes encourages, "Wear your rubbers!"), I stand witness to a great room filled entirely with condoms of all ilk and novelty. It was practically kid-in-a-candy-store awe, only with less sugar. If you were ever wondering, ladies and gentlemen, this is where the magic of condom manufacturing happens.

Davin Wedel founded Global Protection 21 years ago as a student at Tufts, in response to Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's statement that condoms help save lives, period. Ergo, a commitment to STI prevention has driven the company ever since. In the initial years, an era when people were embarrassed or disinclined to speak openly about contraception, Global Protection's humorous and personable twist on packaging took off. "It started conversations," remarks Wedel of the designs, which evolved from a $1 matchbook style ("A safe Jumbo is a happy Jumbo," it read, adorned with the Tufts' elephant mascot) to today's inclusion of user-submitted design contest winners. "If you tie it to popular culture, things people connect to," says Wedel, "then they're going to connect to the condoms."

The company, based in Boston, holds an unbelievable laundry list of accomplishments, of which these are only but a few: inventing the glow-in-the-dark condom, opening the first condom retail store (Condomania in New York City) in 1991, patenting the Pleasure-Plus pouch design and manufacturing an impressive amount of private labels, including Woodstock, Marc Jacobs and Good Vibrations.

But the real accomplishment lies foremost in their charitable efforts for health, including close involvement with Boston's Male Center and donating thousands of condoms to events like Pride Parade and the AIDS Walk. It's all about, literally, sex in the city. "We just keep pushing the envelope," says Wedel, tirelessly reinventing the latex lifesaver to "connect in as many ways to as many people imaginable."

[Global Protection, 12 Channel St., Boston. 617.946.2800. onecondoms.com, globalprotection.com]