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Contraceptives are bought over the counter – not under it, nor by the shade.
This is what HLL Lifecare, the largest manufacturer of contraceptives, seeks to convey through a year-long nationwide campaign launched on Monday.
MENTAL BLOCK
The company is trying to ‘break up' the mental block that has prevented a customer from making it bold to air his demand across the counter and get what he wanted.
The company quotes statistics to reveal that one out of every three Indians is hesitant to walk into a retail shop and ask for condoms openly.
The campaign, titled ‘I'm not shy' was flagged off by the State Minister for Health, Mr Adoor Prakash, at a prominent outlet retail outlet in the heart of the city.
The HLL Lifecare Chairman and the Managing Director, Mr M. Ayyappan, and the Managing Director of Consumerfed (Kerala State Cooperative Consumers' Federation Ltd), Dr Riji G. Nair, were also present on the occasion.
“We are mainly targeting the marginalised and the young through the campaign,” Mr Ayyappan said.
PUBLIC PLACES
As part of the campaign, HLL Lifecare volunteers will go to public places like railway stations and bus stands, and will distribute condoms and other contraceptives free of cost along with brochures to raise awareness levels.
Besides, the company will also set up more vending machines across the country and carry the awareness campaigns into remote tribal areas.
HLL also intends to promote the campaign through social networking Web sites and will also launch new Web site, www. imnotshy.com.
According to a recent survey, modern contraceptives still remain out of reach for millions in India, which is all set to overtake China as the world's most populous nation by 2025.
SCALING UP
The initiative by HLL aims to address the ‘shy' factor directly and get more people to demand openly for a contraceptive and get it from a retail shop.
This shyness is affecting the progress of family planning and is promoting unprotected sex, a company spokesman said.
“World Population Day reaffirms the right of people to plan their families and future. It is an occasion to further scale up the activities aimed at helping the people to enjoy this right,” Mr Ayyappan said.
According to the provisional figures of the Census 2011, Indian population is 1.2 billion, and recorded an increase of 181 million during the last decade at the rate of 17.64 per cent.
Uttar Pradesh (199.5 million) is the most populous State in the country followed by Maharashtra with 112 million.
PARTNERS IN ARMS
The Union Government and HLL Lifecare have been active partners in programmes such as making available free contraceptives at the doorsteps in a block-level effort in select districts of the country.
HLL Lifecare produces over 1.316 billion condoms annually, which accounts for 10 per cent of the total global production.
The ‘Moods' brand company portfolio is available in 19 variants and was selected as ‘Superbrand' and ‘Powerbrand' in India.
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