Durex Pushes All The Right Buttons
And it’s the off button.
The world’s leading sexual well being brand sparked mass speculation on March 3rd by teasing an imminent technological breakthrough in partnership with Siren Mobile to improve people’s sex lives around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people visited the ‘Durexlabs’ website to find out more, with excitement amplified by global media and social networks.
But in a moving and enlightening video released yesterday (find below), couples who volunteered to test the technology, eager to give their love lives an uplift, were surprised to learn the answer lay in a simple switch that had been right in front of them all along – the off button.
The video, which has received 765,025 views in its first 24 hours, follows some of these beta testers on their emotional journey, highlighting the serious issue that we are becoming enslaved to technology. It has been released alongside a study by Durham University commissioned by Durex, which reveals that pervasive use of technology in relationships is seriously impacting how often we have sex, even cutting intercourse short and causing tensions in relationships.
Researchers from Durham’s Centre for Sex, Gender and Sexualities revealed that 40% of those interviewed have delayed sex because of technology, largely smart phones and tablets, with others reported hurrying sexual activity in order to respond to messages. Moreover, a third of the couples interviewed admitted to interrupting sex to answer their phone. One participant said: “Sometimes I’ll be on Facebook and he’ll be on a sporting app while we are both in bed; we realize that we are literally sitting in bed together, but living in different worlds.”
Ukonwa Ojo, Head of Global Brand Equity at Durex: “With technology playing such a pivotal role in our personal lives and relationships, we set out to explore how it could be utilized in a positive way to enhance our sex lives, but in doing so we discovered the most effective answer was the simplest. After consulting countless experts, academic research and endless qualitative interviews, the solution turned out to be a simple one – we should disconnect to reconnect.
“We are encouraged by the response to the campaign and film, particularly as we approach Earth Hour. We hope it will go some way to reconnect couples that have let technology compromise their connection with each other.”
Susie Lee, the app entrepreneur and CEO of Siren Mobile, has been a central part of the project’s implementation. Lee said: “Of course, tech can never really replace human interaction. True chemistry comes from intimacy. “So whilst we need our tech – it has enhanced our lives, enabling us to reconnect with old friends, reach wider social groups and meet new people – we need to recognize the times and places when social networking doesn’t enrich our experience. We really need to learn to focus on each other in the bedroom, rather than on our smartphones or tablets.”
Dr. Mark McCormack, Co-Director of the Centre for Sex, Gender and Sexualities at Durham University, comments: “Technology has revolutionized our lives and smart phones are now central to the organization of romantic relationships, from establishing them to maintaining love and affection when couples are apart.”
“What this research reveals and the point the video makes is that technology now consumes our relationships at a much deeper level. It’s made its way into the bedroom in more ways than we imagined, often with benefits, but also coming with potentially serious costs to relationships, as it can cause frustration and tension, and encroach on sexual activity.”
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