A London-based sex toy company has signed actor Charlie Sheen as the new brand ambassador for its condom product Lelo Hex.
Sheen appears in a launch video for the condom, speaking about the issues some people have with using condoms, following his revelation last year that he was HIV positive.
“I think people associate the word ‘condom’ with less pleasure, with less connection,” he explained in the clip.
“What may feel like five seconds of inconvenience, or a halted, or thwarted moment can absolutely prevent a lifetime of potential grief and suffering.”
He added that a lot of people hold the “fantasy belief” that they will never contract a sexually-transmitted disease or infection.
“I pretty much felt the same way: That’s stuff for other people,” Sheen said.
The Two and a Half Men star also talks about the reactions he received when people found out he was HIV positive, with Lelo adding that at the time of Sheen’s confession, there was a “steady decline in interest” in talking about condom usage.
“That was powerful and when that happened I was proud to have turned something that seemed so completely negative and life disruptive into change and healing. Just to put words on it is empowering and is a sense of relief,” Sheen said.
The video was produced by creative agency Alpha Century, with Sheen even saying he’s tried the condom himself. The condom isn’t yet available, with a crowd-funding project aiming to raise money to get it off the ground.
The Lelo Hex differs from normal condoms because the it has a hexagonal web of panels threaded throughout the latex. The company claims this type of structural design allows the condom to be thin, but strong like graphene.
Lelo hopes to get 10,000 people pledging anything from £9 for a 12-pack to £799 for a package that includes a Lelo gift bag and the chance to meet the company’s founder at its HQ.
4672 people, or 47 per cent of the 10,000, have backed the project so far.
