Hurry Hard to Get Your USA Curling Condoms!

When I think of curling, I do not think of HIV/AIDS. USA Curling would like to change that. Claiming that it is part of the International Olympic Committee’s “moral obligation” to “place sport at the service of mankind,” the group is partnering with a California HIV/AIDS program to produce “Hurry Hard” condoms in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics.This isn’t a joke. But it started as one.

⇥“It kind of shakes it up,” said Kathleen Banks, former executive director of the Monterey County (Calif.) AIDS Prevention, which is now Central Coast HIV/AIDS Services. “I’m all for anytime we can break the mold and help people become more aware.”⇥⇥The idea for the project started when USA Curling’s staff was brainstorming ideas for fundraisers, and someone joked that “hurry hard” would be a good name for a condom. The more it was discussed, though, the more serious the idea became.⇥

“Hurry hard” is apparently a curling term, and the idea that sports can be used to raise social awareness (or that social awareness can help one of the often financially-strapped Winter Olympic sports) is a good one. And much like U.S. Speedskating’s partnership with Stephen Colbert, this is a great way to get cheap publicity.

But I wonder if the honest attempt to do something right and get a little buzz won’t dissolve into snarky blog posts (guilty as charged) and late-night chortles. (That logo won’t help, for instance.) And I hope that if that does happen, it doesn’t dissuade minor sports from trying to do good things like this in the future.

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