Durian Romance

The awesome Mental Floss Blog has a new post on 5 Innovative Ways to Encourage Safer Sex. All 5 are funny – condom ringtones, anyone? — but I just had to share this one.

Ethiopians claim they hate condoms because the smell of latex sickens them. To combat the odor, DKT International, a United Sates nonprofit, created coffee condoms. These dark brown condoms allegedly (I’m not testing the products) taste and smell like the favorite coffee of Ethiopia—the macchiato, an espresso with cream and sugar. … These condoms bolster national identity because Ethiopians claim to have invented coffee. DKT International also created flavored and scented condoms for Indonesia (durian fruit) and China (sweet corn).

Yes, that’s right. Durian fruit flavored condoms.

Durian is a strange Asian fruit, which is either considered a delicacy or one of the most revolting smells on the planet. I fall into the second category… I still regret once putting my nose near a durian just to see if that funny spikey fruit could really be making that sickening rotting smell. (It was!) Even in countries where durian is eaten, durian are not allowed in public places, like on subways, or on planes, or into hotels or hospitals because of the smell.

I find that retching and gagging discourages romance, but to each his own, I guess.

Via mental_floss Blog » 5 Innovative Ways to Encourage Safer Sex