In the name of the moon, I will protect you… from unwanted pregnancy and STDs! Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has partnered with Naoko Takeuchi to distribute free Sailor Moon condoms! These condoms, which come in cute heart-shaped wrappers, will be distributed for free at STD/STI prevention events throughout October. The first takes place tomorrow, October 5 in Fukuoka, with another taking place in Hiroshima, on Monday, October 14 in Hiroshima.
Fun Fact: Takeuchi is a former pharmacist, so if anyone understands the importance of health, it’s her!
Check out the Sailor Moon condom below:
Below is a poster promoting these awareness events:
This is the second Sailor Moon STI-awareness campaign. In 2017, after a massive spike in Syphilis– it quadrupled in Japan, and likewise spiked in the U.S.– the Japanese Ministry of Health attempted to warn young women, the heaviest hit group, with an ad campaign, but after that failed, they needed to call in a superhero.
The Japanese government enlisted Sailor Moon as the face of a different PSA campaign, placing the character on posters, pamphlets and, yep, on 60,000 condoms, which it distributed for free.
At the time of the initial campaign, a representative from the Ministry of Health stated:
“For the most part, our ‘hero’ TV shows had male protagonists, like Ultra Man or Kamen Rider. I suppose that’s the same in any country. Then in the 90s, Sailor Moon was the first woman. It was just women, women fighting against evil. So her image is really great. Everyone loves her. But actually, Sailor Moon isn’t just liked by women, but men, too. This is an STD, so we have to covertly reach out to various groups, like LGBT people.”
In fact, the ad campaign borrowed directly from one of Sailor Moon’s catchphrases.
“‘If you don’t get tested, I’ll punish you!’ We ripped it off. Or, well we borrowed it from there.”
Below, you can find a Vice/HBO news report about the original ad campaign.
As the video mentioned, the Sailor Moon campaign inspired the use of another anime, ‘Mazinger Z’ (known to some in America as ‘Tranzor Z’) to promote a similar anti-measles campaign.
So if you don’t want your own Sailor Chibi Moon running around (or something far worse), wrap it up, Tuxedo Mask!
Source: Otakomu
