Bowdoin Health Services has switched the brand of its complimentary condoms from ONE to Trojan for the 2011-2012 academic year.
"The decision to change condom brands was purely student driven," said Director of Health Services Sandra Hayes. "We had input from students that they did not like the ONE condoms. We heard this over and over again from different students and student groups."
Hayes said that requests for a change in condom brand came from organizations including Peer Health and the Office of Residential Life.
As Trojan was the most commonly suggested replacement, Health Services made the switch at the beginning of this year.
Helmreich House Head Proctor Jay Greene '13 said that, last year, Residential Life student staffers discussed concerns that the ONE condoms were underused because the brand was not taken seriously and was seen as unreliable by students.
Health Services decided that Trojan would be a better option because of its reputation.
"I took a vote in a ResLife meeting and almost all people said they or the majority of their friends were refusing to use the ONE condoms because they aren't good," Greene said.
"Complaints that I've heard are they fit uncomfortably and dry out very quickly," he said.
"It's pretty pointless to spend all of that money on condoms that people rarely use," he added.
In addition to concerns over their reliability, the ONE condoms have been less-than-enthusiastically received on campus due to their packaging.
The condoms round, colorful wrappers often feature humorous puns involving the brand's name. Students have been seen attaching the ONE condoms to walls as decoration and tossing them like frisbees.
"I've discussed with other ResLifers how the advertising as a part of the branding was more about them being fun and less about them being a safe form of protection," Moore Hall Head Proctor Tori Guen '13 said.
Greene said that although Trojan condoms do cost more, the Office of Residential Life felt that it was worth replacing the ONE brand to provide students with a more reliable option.
"Although they are more expensive, Trojan is generally known as a better brand," Greene said. "ONE condoms were known as something only freshmen used as a desperate last resort. I think the new ones are going to be a viable option for sexually active students."