app Archives - Mark & Phil

We love this app from MTV that Locates Places To Get Condoms. Such an ingenious use of mobile and crowd-sourcing for a good intention. We love that it brings together so many different partnerships between corporations and nonprofits as well as invites the public to be a part of the movement. MTV has been known to unroll many controversial programs but no matter if your on the pro-life side or not, you can’t deny the concept is a great one to follow. Our hope is that we’ll see this campaign take off in months to come so it becomes a great example of what is possible when a cause trusts their community to help create the content.

Here’s what Mashable has to say about the campaign:

With the app, users can search via GPS for the nearest place that sells condoms. Much of the information, however, will be crowdsourced. Users are encouraged to add condom-dispensing locations and to provide quick tips like if the shop is open 24 hours or if a machine is broken.

 

The app is part of MTV’s Staying Alive campaign, its global youth HIV awareness and prevention effort. The crowdsourced nature of the app encourages a supporting community that can hopefully remove the taboo of buying contraceptives. The information will eventually be used to create a global condom distribution map, allowing more people to avoid putting themselves or others at risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

 

iCondom is well-timed with a controversial new government health care plan that would eliminate out-of-pocket costs for women’s birth control. Condom controversy usually revolves around a condom’s ability to prevent pregnancy rather than its ability to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. The MTV campaign focuses on the latter even as it enters a climate of increased exposure and debate around sexual preventative care.

 

Recent numbers from UNICEF estimate that 5 million 15- to 24-year-olds are living with HIV and another 2,500 young people are infected every day. The app is free to download [iTunes link]. Any profit generated through iCondom’s adverts will be split three ways between Staying Alive, the developers and Scarlett Mark, which helped create the campaign.