Did you know that New York spends $720,000 annually on condoms? It’s true.

The city buys condoms for 4 cents and hands them out in hopes of people using them and preventing AIDs and other STDs.

City officials, who conduct an annual health survey, say a memorable package also could help them gauge how often people actually use the city’s condom. “If they describe our wrapper, then we’ll know that they would have used our condom.”

Just because someone is able to describe a wrapper doesn’t mean they use that particular product. I could describe wrappers for candy bars that I do not eat. I’m sure everybody has seen the light blue LifeStyles condoms that come in little boxes being handed out at outdoor concerts. Do people use those? Yes. To make balloons to toss around in the air. Kids do not take them home with the intent to use them. And after they’ve been out in the sun all day, who could blame them? It seems condoms make better balloon animals than they do protection these days (just ask my cousin…that’s another story).

New York thinks that by distributing the condom in some sort of “jazzy” wrapper, perhaps with a colorful subway map or some other city theme, that more people will use them. I definitely think more people will be talking about them. But as for usage rates, I doubt they’ll see an increase.

Pretty soon children will be coming home from school with different colored and themed condoms in hopes to “collect them all!” Condoms will take over trading cards and pogs (do you remember pogs?) Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit on that one, but I still don’t think it will help.

But more power to the city of New York. If they want to spend money on decorating their LifeStyles condoms, go right ahead!

But, did you know that 18 million free condoms each year go to hundreds of organizations who later distribute them at health clinics, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, nail salons and even prisons (I seriously question that one)?

More than one million condoms per year are distributed by the Los Angeles County health department. But yet how many babies are born each year? Rather, how many babies are conceived each year? I question the number of abortions that take place due to either the lack of a condom or some sort of error (breaking and/or sliding off).

So what do you think? Do you believe decorating condoms and jazzing them up a bit will promote better usage by the teens and young adults of America?