Watching the video above I am reminded of the challenge we face in the world of reproductive health—a world I am still getting to know—of trying to make adherence fun.  The piano stairs do a fabulous job of enticing people to walk and work off a few extra calories.  Fun can change behavior for the better.

The challenge for us is that contraception is not so fun.  Even the names of contraception methods—an opportunity for fun—are usually horrible.

Perhaps we can take some cues from toothpaste. Bill Smith, in his recent Social Marketing Quarterly article "The Power of the Product P, or Why Toothpaste Is So Important to Behavior Change," says that what we need to affect change is a product like toothpaste, not ideas. "An idea, like 'health is good,' 'exercise works,' or even 'environmentalism' is the affirmation of a belief, not a social marketing product," Smith wrote. And only a product can be effectively marketed. "Toothpaste," he went on to write, "is a product that helps us achieve our marketing goal of behavior change (bushing teeth)."

We don't try to get people to brush their teeth without toothpaste, but we do ask them to take HIV tests and obtain birth control without compensating them for the stigma they experience. "All we have to do is invent products and services that are as good as toothpaste, update them regularly to keep people interested, price them competitively, put them everywhere, and then tell people how cool they are," Smith challenged. Are we up for the challenge?

Where's the toothpaste?

A couple months back I was at Nationals Park (or, as I like to call it, my living room) watching my beloved Washington Nationals lose yet another game. As the grounds crew prepared the field for that night's game, I noted a particularly hairy individual watering the grass. Turns out the hirsute guy was a plant—part of the Geico caveman advertising campaign. After a few minutes watering the lawn as a member of the grounds crew, the caveman was flashed onto the gi-normous television screen hanging in center field and a good laugh was had by all. Human product placement!

Reflect for a moment on all the innovative and engaging campaigns you have seen over the past two years—from insurance, to beer, to fill in your personal favorite here. Now think about all the innovative campaigns you have come across in the oddly-named field of reproductive health. Ready? Go...

Waiting... tick, tick, tick

Give up?

Me too.

The ugly truth is that most campaigns at preventing teen and unplanned pregnancy and encouraging people to take sex, pregnancy, and family formation a bit more seriously are, at best, stuck in neutral (if by neutral you mean approximately 1987). Of course, there may be practical and idealogical reasons for all this; bold social marketing efforts in reproductive health land are frequently dismissed by true believers as disrespectful, preachy, fear-based, shame-filled, or they are simply precluded by media outlets from being aired at all.

All of which brings us to a truly engaging mass media effort underway in India to—in the words of the creators—"make condoms more socially acceptable and improve the image of the condom user as a smart and responsible person." One listen to the condom ring tone and you will understand what I mean by an engaging, innovative and—dare I say it—fun social marketing effort.

See the TV ad, listen to the fabulous-can't-get-enough-of-it ringtone, and learn more about this innovative effort. Now start you own campaign! Remember, no giraffes, rainbows, or unicorns allowed.