Condom sales slump in Poland

Between November 2010 and October 2011, Poles purchased some ten percent less condoms than in the corresponding period the previous year.

Experts are divided as to the causes of the trend, with some arguing the fall in sales is due to demography, others that there have been less health campaigns launched in recent years against unprotected intercourse, while others points to a “change in sexual practices”.

Professor Zbigniew Izdebski suggests that the condom slump is due to demographic change.

“It's usually the youngest who buy condoms the most often,” he told the Puls Biznesu daily. “There are fewer and fewer of them [the young] and this has probably been felt by condom producers.”

Professor Izdebski also noted that there has not been a major anti-AIDS campaign for some years, and as a result, people have forgotten about the threat of this fatal disease.

Nevertheless, it turns out that while kiosks, pharmacies and grocery stores are selling less and less condoms, supermarkets and cosmetics and drug stores are selling more.

“Clients are increasingly opting for more expensive condoms,” said Piotr Nowacki from Unimil contraceptives.

An entirely different theory concerning the fall of the condom market was advanced by sexologist Professor Zbigniew Lew-Starowicz.

“Poles are increasingly opting for other forms of sex, and perhaps its traditional format is changing,” he theorised.

The statistics concerning the state of the condom market were compiled were compiled by market research firms Nielson and IMS Health. (nh/pg)