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| Owner | Reckitt Benckiser |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Introduced | 1915; 110 years ago (1915) (as London Rubber Company) |
| Previous owners | SSL International |
| Website | durex |
Durex is a British brand ofcondoms andpersonal lubricants owned byReckitt Benckiser and currently led by Ben Wilson.[1] It was initially developed in London under the purview of theLondon Rubber Company and British Latex Products Ltd, where it was manufactured between 1932 and 1994.[2][3] The London Rubber Company was formed in 1915, and the Durex brand name ("Durability, reliability, and excellence") was launched in 1929, although London Rubber did not begin manufacturing own-brand condoms until 1932, in collaboration with a rubber technology student fromPoland named Lucian Lundau.[2][3][4] The first book on The London Rubber Company and the history of Durex condoms, written by Jessica Borge, was published in September 2020 byMcGill-Queen's University Press.[2][3]
The London Rubber Company later merged withSSL International, and has since 2010 been owned by theAnglo-Dutch companyReckitt Benckiser. It is one of the best-selling condom brands around the world, with 30% of the global market.[5] In 2006, Durex condoms were the second-best-selling brand of condoms in the United States, withTrojan condoms being the first. It is supplied by, among others, the companyKarex.[6]
In 2007, the last factory making Durex condoms in the UK stopped manufacturing and production has since moved to China, India andThailand.[5] The modern range includes a wide variety oflatex condom, including theSheik andRamses brands in North America,[7] and theAvanti condom. Durex also provides a range of lubricants andsex toys.
Although Durex was not an official sponsor of theOlympic Games, Durex provided 150,000 free condoms to more than 10,000 athletes that competed in the2012 Summer Olympics in London.[8]
Although condoms are not a widely used form of contraception in China, with only around 10% of sexually active people using them, among Chinese condom users Durex has a dominant market share of 45% as of 2015.[9] Due to a relativelyconservative culture surrounding sex, Durex's marketing in China is often indirect and subtle, often involving lighthearted humour.[10] Marketing is done almost exclusively on social media.[10] Durex has operated an account on themicroblogging siteWeibo in 2011,[11] which had 2.65 million followers and more than 20,000 posts as of 2018.[12] Durex targets Chinese users on Sina Weibo aged from 20 to 40, and primarily men under 35 years old.[13] In 2011, Durex began cross-industry advertising tie-ins with theantivirus software companyTrend Micro,[14] using the common themes of "antivirus" and "security".[15]
Media related toDurex at Wikimedia Commons| People | |
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