Next Up: The Newark Condom; Also, Get Sewell Chan Laid!

The official New York City condom was finally unveiled yesterday:

The new “NYC Condom” is the same as those already distributed by the Health Department. And the price hasn’t changed — they’re still free. But the package has a new look, inspired by the subway, which officials and community leaders hope will increase education and awareness about HIV/AIDS and safe sex.

“Any successful product has a strong brand,” said Kenneth Cole, who hosted the launch at Rockefeller Center yesterday morning, in a statement. “And condoms are no different.”

More than 150,000 condoms were handed out after the launch to commuters.

Also being rolled out — a Mitt Romney-inspired special undergarment:

Along with the condoms, and a bilingual advertising campaign, the city also announced a new line of underwear and T-shirts that sport a condom-sized pocket for handy access during moments of passion, and a label that reads: “This garment and its contents should be worn whenever conceivable.”

And nothing against Sewell Chan, that total workhorse, but it seems that more and more his reporting is exhibiting this obsessively detailed quirkiness (mild Asperger’s?) — see, for example:

On Valentine’s Day last year, the health department announced that it was developing the first New York City-branded condom. That effort culminated in yesterday’s mass distribution of the condoms, timed to Valentine’s Day, which also happened to be Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s 65th birthday.

The new condoms do not bear the official seal of the city, an image of a big apple or an outline of the city’s skyline. The black plastic wrapper simply says “NYC condom” on the front, with each letter in a circle, like the letters used by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to denote subway lines. (The authority gave the city permission to use the letters, which are the intellectual property of the subway system.)

Distributed by Ansell Healthcare Products of Dothan, Ala., the condoms handed out yesterday were made in Malaysia and expire in September 2011.

I hope his noticing when the things expire isn’t, you know, some sort of insight into Chan’s personal life . . .