In recent years, Trojan Brand Condoms have caught the attention of the American public with cheeky ad campaigns. They gave us a superhero, TrojanMan (what he lacked in sexiness he made up for in hilarity). Last year, they launched the Evolve television ad campaign, a lighthearted poke at men featuring a bar full of pigs hitting on (repulsed but polite) women. Finally, one smart pig gets turned into something of a prince for figuring out women are attracted to guys who protect their partners (and themselves). (It's worth mentioning that this ad was too racy for several networks which chose to ban it. Ironically, those networks seem to feature the most sexually reckless programming). This year though, Trojan has quelled the laughter and is instead reaching out to the American public with a message that's more of a plea: save yourselves.

The new sobering Trojan campaign, The Trojan Evolve National Bus Tour, highlights the declining sexual health of Americans over the last few years, (ie: the Bush years—though they're not pointing any fingers.) Because primetime network television, shamefully, now bans condom advertising, Trojan has taken its safe sex message on the road (as they cutely put it, "The rubber hits the road"). They're starting this month (STI awareness month) to reach those most in danger of the highly preventable consequences of sex: college-age kids. The Trojan Evolve Tour will visit more than 80 cities and colleges and the Evolve "Immersion Zone" will appear at more than 50 music concert events and festivals from California to Mississippi to Washington, D.C. With a tip of the hat and an elbow in the side of the masterminds behind "Virginity Pledges," Trojan Evolve Tour will ask Americans to sign a pledge to use a condom every time and advocate for comprehensive sex ed in schools.

Few Americans, when faced with the evidence, should debate whether to sign such a petition. The facts fueling this campaign are incontrovertible. As Trojan's Tour press materials explain,

"America Is Not a Sexually Healthy Nation. The Trojan Evolve Tour launches in the wake of newly released CDC statistics indicating that one in four teen girls has a sexually transmitted infection (STI) , and syphilis, gonorrhea and Chlamydia, continue to rise in the general public. This is in addition to the 65 million Americans already living with an incurable STI. And for the first time in fourteen years, rates of unintended teenage pregnancy are growing, contributing to the over three million unplanned pregnancies occurring each year. Yet, only about one in four sex acts among singles involves a condom, resulting in over a billion acts of unprotected sex each year."

You can check out if the Trojan Evolve tour is coming to your area by visiting the campaign's Facebook page. It's there that you can find other ways to support prevention and evidence-based solutions to unintended pregnancy and STIs. So show Trojan the love, especially since they've given you the chance to have it safely for so many years. Thank them for standing up to the anti-contraception, anti-prevention crowd which, if it had its way, would leave us with only frightening choices.