Design in Society

Looking at the video below, we see a humorous advertisement promoting the use of condoms in order to prevent unwanted situations such as the one seen in the video between a parent and his rambunctious son. Although this serves as an amusing commercial to couch potatoes everywhere, the advertisement actually promotes a product that is a form of utopian design; in other words, condoms are a form of design that aim to improve society.

With all the different pieces of design out there, many may not have condoms as their number one choice for utopian design. Nevertheless, we cannot deny that condoms have been beneficial to the general public.

When it comes to measuring a condom’s worth, I’d say that condoms are very crucial to society, especially in today’s modern culture. Looking at American advertisements, media and Hollywood films, we live in a country in which “sex sells”. There’s no denying it. Because the American population is accustomed to more intimate and sexual relationships, sexual intercourse is far more common in this country than it is on the shores of others. As a result, we must look at how the condom serves us in the context of the 21^st century.

Consider the primary purpose of condoms. In most cases, condoms are used to prevent unwanted pregnancies. This is a crucial aspect of how the condom is a form of utopian design.

For unwanted pregnancies, condoms strive to prevent the possibility of unintentionally conceiving a child using its latex design. Not only does this goal reflect safe-sex practices, but also population control. With our population facing tough economic times as well as an ever-growing number of homeless people, we must be reminded that having more children is not the answer. Why have more kids when there are people out there who cannot even provide themselves with a sufficient means of living?  

Not only do condoms keep the population in check, they also prevent the death of children from abortions as well as any parental abandonment that results from putting a child up for adoption. Because condoms serve to prevent such increases in population as well as avoid child death and abandonment, we see how it is a form of utopian design.

Condoms strive to improve society in other ways such as preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and infections as well as being a reliable and inexpensive product. Because condoms have proven to be dependable (with a 2% per year pregnancy rate) and relatively cheap, a large part of the population is able to use it, thereby showing that it is an important (if not essential) design in our society.

Having been used for over 400 years, condoms having been improving society for centuries and is still popular even today. Because of this, we can safely assume that they are perfect examples of what can be considered as utopian design.