The old 'normal' wasn't good enough, says Durex in post-lockdown film about sexual attitudes

Durex is reprising its call for sexual attitudes not to go back to "normal" after lockdown in a new film from Havas London. The film, produced and directed by Tubby Brother Films and featuring a diverse cast including same-sex couples, follows an earlier social and outdoor campaign that broke in May, with a manifesto that encouraged society to "reset" norms such as men making poor excuses for not wearing condoms, shaming women for carrying them and "unnecessary" STIs. The Reckitt Benckiser condom brand argues that the current crisis represents a unique chance to reset what is "normal"– and that nobody should want to return to a normal where we weren’t protecting ourselves. The film ends with the words: "The world has never been so ready for change, so let's all change it for the better." "We knew we needed a piece of film as part of the campaign because we wanted to try and capture this moment in time, and all the emotions wrapped up in it," says Elliot Harris, RB Global Executive Creative Director at Havas London. "A poster can’t do that, or at least not as well. Imagery, music and, if you get it right, a killer voiceover are so evocative. They help elevate a story and this message was so important to get right tonally. We knew the brand had the right and the role to say something and we needed to get that said in as human and as honest a way as possible." The film will be promoted globally, via organic and paid social posts across the world. It launches in Italy and Greece, with Russia and the U.K. to follow in the coming weeks ahead of further regional executions going live in-line with the easing of local lockdown restrictions. "We don’t really see an end to this campaign – and we don’t know what type of work we may be making for the brand in a year," adds Harris. "No one does. That’s keeping us on our toes – we need to ensure the creative stays culturally relevant each time we speak to our audience. COVID has imposed itself across all our creative output for this brand – hopefully for the better. We have a once-in-a-generation chance to effect some proper, positive change – and that’s one of the best things to come out of lockdown."

The old 'normal' wasn't good enough, says Durex in post-lockdown film about sexual attitudes

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