World AIDS Day: Text-imacy with a prudent EMOJInation

Emojis have come a long way and today’s Gen-Next are always on the prowl to spice up their text life. Ahead of the World AIDS Day on December 1, people across the world are uniting in the fight against HIV.

And while this might sound frivolous at first look, emojis essentially are used frequently when it comes to flirting by the younger generation. There’s a large set of people using only emojis to fix a date. That’s why a condom brand is creating several campaigns for a safe sex emoji for the first time.

The sex emoji ‘Umbrella with Raindrops’  is a part of their ongoing #CondomEmoji campaign to help the youth overcome embarrassment and easily communicate about the issue. We find out more.

‘Umbrella with Raindrops’  is a part of their ongoing #CondomEmoji campaign to help the youth overcome embarrassment and easily communicate about the issue. We find out more.

“As long as there is a recall of safe sex to any kind of emoji it’s always positive. I’m sure this would definitely help people chat openly on the subject. The use of an emoji to associate with safe sex seem to be a fun idea actually,” states Anup Joseph Kattukaran (35), a city-based cinematographer.

Shockingly, almost half of 16-35 year-olds think that HIV is not something that could ever affect them, despite the fact that every 30 seconds a young person is infected with HIV. There’s nothing awkward about it and it’s just a step ahead to help young people put safe sex on the agenda.

“Safe sex is the need of the hour! One day my mother found a pack of three condoms in my bag. She asked me the purpose though a little reluctantly. Not a little kid anymore who would build stories to save my skin from all the mischief I would do; things haven’t quite changed. Making a story I told her, ‘it’s for protection.’ ‘Protection from what?’ she asked. ‘From a rape! I live alone and if I’m forced least I can do is ask the man to put it on.’ She continued to look at that pack and retorted, ‘okay but why three?’ I was again in a fix. But, me being a story teller shot back at her, ‘what if it’s a gang rape?’ and ended our conversation on a lighter note, with both of us laughing it all off. I’m sure if nothing else, I hope my mother felt that her daughter had grown up a responsible being,” feels Bhaavna Arora, city-based author of many contemporary romantic novels.

Tasneem Nakhoda, counselor for emotional well-being at Tattva adds, “Since emojis seem to hold a lot of significance in conversations with the youth, it’s a great initiative. There’s still some amount of inhibition around discussing safe sex ‘in person’ for some people. Sending an emoji to one’s partner is a lot easier for them to convey a message as important as this.”