Foreign brands benefit from fast-growing sales of condoms in China

IT USED to be that condoms could be found in China only during business hours, at government family-planning clinics, on production of a marriage certificate. In recent years they have become far more readily available—in vivid and sometimes intimidating variety—alongside the chewing gum, cigarettes and crisps on offer at all-night convenience stores, in hotel rooms and in vending machines. Sales of biyuntao, literally, "pregnancy-avoidance sheaths", are growing fast.

曾几何时，避孕套这一神物只有持结婚证，在工作时间前往政府开办的计划生育诊所才能领取。然而近年来，避孕套走下神坛，变成了唾手而得的寻常之物，在24小时便利店里，它和口香糖、香烟以及马铃薯片放在一起。它的身影还出现在饭店房间、自动售卖机里，甚至遍地都能寻到它的芳踪。中国的避孕套销量飞速增长。

The name biyuntao, however, suggests why use of them is low in China compared with many other countries. Contraception is widely seen as a woman's responsibility—indeed, abortion is one of the most common methods.

本身避孕套这个名字起的就能解释为什么和其他国家相比，中国的避孕套使用率会是如此之低。在中国，普遍认为避孕是女人的事，而堕胎是最常见的事后处理方式。

Open discussion of sex remains taboo in most quarters, making it difficult to raise awareness of how useful condoms are, not only to prevent pregnancy but also the spread of disease. Aditya Sehgal of Durex, a British brand, says about 10% of Chinese who potentially are sexually active are regular condom users. That is about the same proportion as in Hong Kong four decades ago. it is now about 50%. China's market has plenty of room to grow.

在中国大部分地区，公开议论性事还是个忌讳。这让人们很难意识到避孕套是多么有用，它不仅能够避孕，还能防止传染性疾病。英国品牌杜蕾斯公司称，在中国内地的性活跃人群中，只有10%的人经常使用避孕套。这是40年前香港的水平，而现在，这一数字为50%。中国的避孕套市场还有很大的增长空间。

The authorities, fearful of the spread of HIV, have tried to make condoms more readily available in places where prostitutes do business. But they have been slower to promote them more widely. Some university campuses are still skittish about installing vending machines. It was only last year that officials lifted a near-total ban on television adverts for condoms.

为防止艾滋病传播，中国政府试图在那些性工作者出没的场所将避孕套放在最显眼的地方。然而，在促进避孕套使用这一方面，官方的动作还是不太给力。一些大学校园仍不愿安装自动贩卖机。直到去年，官方才正式解禁电视上几乎被全面禁播的避孕套广告。

That does not deter foreign brands. Mr Sehgal says he has little interest in television advertising in China, where airtime is very expensive and it is hard to reach the target audience. Durex relies instead on social media to build its brand. Chinese equivalents of Twitter and Facebook are censored for political content, but give freer rein to discussion of sex. Humour is part of the mix: one advertising campaign involved posting photos of people using condoms to cover their shoes during a heavy rainstorm. All this has helped Durex raise its market share in China from 30% to 45% in the past four years.

不过，这些困难难不倒外国品牌。杜蕾斯公司的阿迪蒂亚·塞加尔说，他对在中国做电视广告的兴趣不大。因为电视广告投放不仅费用高昂，且无法接近目标人群。因而杜蕾斯依靠社交媒体来打造品牌。中国社交媒体审查比较严格，不过这种审查更多的是针对政治内容，对于性言论的控制力度不大。杜蕾斯的避孕套广告一般带有幽默感，比如有个广告创意就是一张照片：有人在暴雨中把避孕套套在了鞋上。所有这些宣传方法令杜蕾斯在中国的市场占有率从四年前的30%上升到了如今的45%。

It should help foreign brands that the domestic market is awash with shoddily made Chinese condoms. In April police in Shanghai broke up a gang that was producing and distributing condoms in eight provinces. After seizing 3m of them, police said they were tainted with heavy metals and were "very dangerous to humans". Some of the counterfeits were falsely labelled as foreign brands.

对外国品牌来说，中国市场还有一个优势，那就是国产品牌的避孕套质量堪忧。今年4月，上海警方就捣毁了一个避孕套制作团伙。该团伙生产的劣质避孕套遍布全国8个省份。警方查获了该团伙生产的300万只避孕套，并称这种劣质避孕套中含有对人体"非常有害"的重金属。有些假冒产品还被冠以外国品牌的商标在商店出售。