World AIDS Day: Campaign for emoji to promote safe sex

New Delhi: An international campaign calling for the creation of the world's first official safe sex emoji, ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1, was launched on Tuesday by sexual well being brand Durex.

"Looking at how influential messaging is in the development of relationships today, an official safe sex emoji is a simple and empowering step towards better protection and sexual well being," Volker Sydow, global director, Durex, said in a statement.

According to a recent research conducted by Durex, emojis play a vital role in young people's conversation around sex, with 80 percent of those in the 18-25 age bracket finding it easier to express themselves using emojis. It was also found that over half of the respondents regularly use emojis when discussing sex. As many as 84 percent of the respondents said they feel more comfortable talking about sex using emojis.

More worrying was the rise in apathy towards engaging in safer sexual practices with over a third claiming not to care about safe sex.

In light of this, Durex launched a worldwide campaign to call for an official safe sex emoji to be created by the company behind emojis (Unicode).

The aim of such an emoji is to enable young people to overcome embarrassment around the discussion of safe sex, encourage conversation and raise awareness of the importance of using condoms in protecting against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV and AIDS.

The sexual well being brand is calling for people to use and share the hashtag #CondomEmoji in support of safe sex.