I recently learned that both HARIBO and Twix are clever portmanteaus, even though I’d gone my whole life without thinking twice about them.
I’m a pretty big fan of Hobnobs’ secretly genius name, too.
But what about non-food companies? Surely the best branding can’t have only gone to edible products?
Well, depending on your adventurousness, it turns out they haven’t ― Durex, the condom company, has its own clever meeting too.
Which is?
Durex’s site says that the brand was made by The London Rubber Company, established in 1915.
The Durex brand wasn’t registered until 1929, and it didn’t release its first “anatomically shaped” condom until the ’60s (I wonder what they were working with before...).
According to the BBC, the brand name stood for “durability, reliability and excellence”.
Durex became “the first condom company to advertise in many countries” in the ’70s, their site reveals.
The company’s ads have stirred up controversy since.
A UK advertising watchdog banned the brand’s 2003 Performa billboard campaign, claiming it was likely to cause “serious and widespread offence,” for instance.
Does the London Rubber Company still exist?
The London Rubber Company, which was located near Old Street at first but moved to Chingford, was Britain’s foremost condom maker by the time the Second World War ended, Dr Jessica Borge revealed.
Dr. Borge’s book, Protective Practices. A History of the London Rubber Company and the Condom Business (published by McGill-Queens University Press), covers the history of Durex extensively.
You can still see a video released by the company in 1964 thanks to this incredible archive ― it’s called According To Plan and does (fair warning) start off with a naked cartoon couple.
However, in 2010 Durex was bought by Reckitt Benckiser, the company’s site says. This was after the London Rubber Company merged with SSL International in 1999.
Reckitt’s site says that “over half a billion condoms are purchased globally every year.”
They add that the success is “all thanks to a simple formula: durability + reliability + excellence = Durex!”