World Service Trust Condom Ringtone
The 大象传媒 World Service Trust uses the creative power of the media to achieve development goals. We use a variety of approaches including television and radio drama and advertisements to raise awareness and promote change in behaviour on health, governance, human rights, the environment and other development issues.
We were recently given a tough task: to make condoms more acceptable, and free from negative judgment, in a country that doesn't really acknowledge that sex happens, never mind sex that should be protected.
We came up with a wacky idea to get people talking about condoms. We recorded a condom-themed ringtone. Listen to the mp3 here.
This is, we think, the first time that a mobile ringtone has been used to communicate a social or public health message. With one in four people in India having a mobile phone, and ringtones being, for some, statements of personal style, it's a new way to reach people.
We also decided to use a ringtone because, when the phone rings, the tune - or, in our case, the word "condom" - is put out in public. This stimulates conversation, which is desirable as - according to research - those who talk about sex and condoms are more likely to have healthy behaviours, such as using condoms consistently.
We wanted to create a conversation piece that would get people talking and would ultimately help to break down the taboo about condoms. We want to portray the condom user as a smart and responsible person. Having the ringtone on your phone shows that you understand this.
Setting up a true tone ringtone
There are three ways of setting up a true tone ringtone download service:
鈥 IVR: Interactive voice response is a voice service where the mobile user dials a code, hears the ringtone and has the option of selecting the option to download the ringtone
鈥 SMS: the mobile user sends a code word (e.g. "CONDOM") to a shortcode (in our case it was a seven-digit numerical code) and gets a WAP push in reply, from where the user has the option to download the ringtone, at which time download costs apply
鈥 online: the MP3 file posted on an internet site allows the user to save it on his/her computer and then transfer it to his/her mobile telephone.
In addition to these, the ringtone can be shared via bluetooth and emailing MP3 files.
As cost was a priority, both for minimising our costs and the cost to the mobile user, we selected the SMS and online options. We tried to negotiate the SMS download for free because this was a non-profit public awareness campaign, but with India having many telecoms companies and operators, this was an impossible task, which meant that a free download from a website was just as important as the SMS download.
The dedicated website is at and also has condom-themed games and details about the campaign.
Through the SMS option we were able to capture most GPRS and all CDMA providers in the country. The arrangement with our service provider is that the download costs nothing to 大象传媒 World Service Trust, but costs 3 Indian Rupees (INR80 = 1GBP) for the request SMS and between INR10-20 for download from WAP push.
A shortcoming of this approach is that only people with true tone-enabled mobile phones can download the ringtone. As we've witnessed, people don't even know what their phones enable, as evinced by the vast numbers of people who have requested the download but have not been successful because their phones do not support the true tone ringtone.
We've debated whether to produce a polyphonic version, but decided it defeats the purpose of the getting the word "condom" out.
The ringtone is being promoted in TV and radio adverts. You can see the TV ad on the Trust's website or below:
Much to my excitement, the idea to use mobile telephone ringtones to influence views about condoms has not only gripped India, it has now become an .
The campaign started just a month ago and here are a few topline results:
- We've had over 270,000 requests for downloading the ringtone in India through our SMS shortcode. This does not include the number of people who have obtained the ringtone via Bluetooth and our website.
- The campaign website condomcondom.org has received over 2m hits. We get over 65,000 hits a day.
- We've collected hundreds of news stories from all over the world that have covered the campaign. It's appeared on the front page of the as well as international media. International sources covering it range from and to the very random - I was recently interviewed by a radio station in Bogota Colombia!
- The Indian government has adopted our campaign and is airing our TV and radio adverts at its own expense as part of its National AIDS Control effort.
We are tracking all of the media and to the campaign, specifically to assess the impact this has had on people's attitudes towards condoms.
I'll leave this post with an amusing (and completely true) anecdote. When we were recording the ringtone in a Mumbai studio, the shape of the audio wave file on the computer screen was unbelievable, uncanny. Have a look:
With this "condom normalisation" project, we've added a new device to our tool kit - the mobile ringtone!
Your comments and questions are very welcome.
Yvonne MacPherson is Country Director, 大象传媒 World Service Trust, India.
Comment number 1.
At 9th Sep 2008, tompagenet2 wrote:When visiting the condomcondom site I get a "Reported Attack Site!" warning in firefox.
This is what the warning says:
"Of the 2 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 1 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 09/08/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 09/07/2008."
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Comment number 2.
At 9th Sep 2008, DaveC wrote:Same here.
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Comment number 3.
At 9th Sep 2008, NickReynolds wrote:I've passed on these comments to the relevant person at the WS Trust.
Nick Reynolds (editor, 大象传媒 Internet blog)
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Comment number 4.
At 9th Sep 2008, gracecdavies wrote:Thanks for your comment, I have passed it on to the team in India.
In firefox (2.0) and IE6 you should now be able to access the site here no problem:
Grace Davies (new media editor, WS Trust)
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Comment number 5.
At 10th Sep 2008, ymacpherson wrote:Apologies to those of you who tried to access the site right at the time when we were transferring it from the existing server to a Linux one (in order to improve speed and security). Unfortunately the transfer coincided exactly with the publishing of this blog! We understand the transfer is complete and the site is accessible fully. So please do visit the site again and have a go at knots and crosses game!
Yvonne
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Comment number 6.
At 10th Sep 2008, tompagenet2 wrote:I'm afraid this is not the problem - the site is still marked as a "Reported Attack Site". Malicious software was hosted on the site, according to Google, who I can't imagine have much reason to lie about this. It looks like the site wasn't set up securely. If those problems have been fixed now you need to get in touch with Google via the webmasters central page.
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Comment number 7.
At 14th Sep 2008, peteark wrote:The site is still experiencing problems
Pete
www.business-sale.com
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Comment number 8.
At 14th Sep 2008, KatrinVerclas wrote:I love the condom-condom ringtone but Yvonne MacPherson, Country Director, India, for the 大象传媒 World Service Trust, is very wrong if she says that 鈥渢his was the first time a mobile ring-tone had been used to communicate a social or public health message.鈥
Ringtones have been used at least since 2001 to convey social and political messages. In the Philippines in 2000, activists used a recording of then-president Arrojo to humorously and very effectively illustrate election fraud in the country. The story of the 鈥淗ello Garci鈥 ringtone is well known around the world, and is written up here:
Political ringtones have been used around the world - see .
You can also check out for user-generated political ringtones related to the U.S. election this year. The story is here:
We have written about 鈥榬ingtones for good鈥 extensively 鈥 see
So while we applaud the catchy and clever condom/condom ringtone, and are pleased to see how popular it is, the 大象传媒 World Trust is really only the latest in the long tradition of using ringtones for social change.
All the best,
Katrin Verclas
MobileActive.org (where we track this kind of stuff!)
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Comment number 9.
At 17th Sep 2008, ymacpherson wrote:Dear Katrin,
Thanks very much for your comment and introducing me to your website, which provides insight into the use of mobile ringtones 鈥渇or good鈥. (I love the idea of using ringtones to play sounds of endangered species.) I鈥檝e yet to locate an example of a ringtone being used for a public health campaign 鈥 where a ringtone is produced with the specific objective of bringing about attitudinal and/or behaviour change.
The only other example that comes close, of which I am aware, is another 大象传媒 World Service Trust鈥檚 project in Cambodia, where they had developed a jingle encouraging breast feeding in an advert. This later turned up on people鈥檚 ringtones. /worldservice/trust/whatwedo/where/asia/cambodia/2008/03/080225_cambodia_hivaids_mch_project_psa.shtml
But the key difference here is that this was an organic and user generated outcome as opposed to being a part of a planned strategy.
There are many examples of SMS being used to deliver health facts, answer questions, remind people to take their medication, etc. but if you are aware of a health campaign using a ringtone, I鈥檇 be keen to know about it.
You are correct to point out that 鈥渕obile advocacy鈥 and activism have been around for a while, and I accept that we in the public health/development field have been slower than say, the US presidential candidates, to take advantage of mobile ringtones to reach people.
What is exciting to me is that, as someone who works in 鈥渄evelopment communication鈥, the mobile ringtone offers yet another platform to reach people. And ringtones also offer the advantage of a multiplier effect, meaning that when an individual uses the ringtone, the campaign鈥檚 鈥渕essage鈥 gets beamed repeatedly and in settings beyond the reach of TV and radio.
Cheers,
Yvonne
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