Jiftip: Penis Sticker Product Promotes Itself As 'Condom Or Nothing' Alternative
A peculiar new penis sticker product allows men to seal off the tip of their urethra during sex, but health experts and the product website itself make no promises that it can actually prevent pregnancy or STD’s. However, much of the product's fine print lays out a cautionary tale for what happens if you refuse to wear a regular condom.
Jiftip is currently being sold in 3-packs for $6 and is presented as a satirically simple, laissez faire alternative to wearing condoms.
The “Feel Shield” product is a three-pronged sticker that fits over the tip of the penis and is described on the Jiftip website as a hypoallergenic “top layer [of] polyurethane film” with an adhesive layer “with maximum grip.” The flexible adhesive is described as being just small enough to cover the urethra for the containment of urine and semen.
Jiftip's promotional videos on YouTube and its website lay out an "all or nothing" approach to condom use and sexual pleasure. One diagram that urges the product's use "in place of nothing" and illustrates condom use during sex to mean you "feel safe but feel nothing" whereas not wearing one means you "feel everything but not safe." A pie chart on the site that lists United Nations data on contraceptive use around the world also warns that more than 36 percent of people reported using "no contraceptive at all."
One video promoting the product even notes Jiftip could be used as an alternative to "stealthing," a disturbing trend that involves the unconsensual removal of a condom during sex that is often described as outright rape or sexual assault.
Jiftip’s website focuses on the penis sticker’s simplicity. Directions for use indicate users must only “clean the tip, align shield, bond to skin, enjoy real sex.” And a YouTube video demonstrating the product directs users, “Just peel it, stick it and forget it. Everyone forgets it.”
The product predicates many of the listed benefits with slogans such as, “Sex is simple, why make it complicated?” and “It seems everyone is doing it wrong. Is there a better alternative to nothing?”
But the website’s startlingly casual disclaimers about Jiftip’s safety and health limitations appear to negate any positive benefits to using it as a realistic contraceptive or preventative measure. Perhaps in an attempt at a joke, one "customer" review lists themselves as a "Jiftip Beta User" and goes on to describe the product as a "compromise" to wearing no protection during sex at all.
"The point is, yes, of course, Jiftip is NOT right for everyone. But neither are condoms. Jiftip is not a guarantee, it's a compromise -- a very elegant compromise perfectly suited to a certain subset of individuals. And just like the condom, Jiftip lies at a point somewhere in the middle along the scale of risk."
With a subtitle reading, “Life is a risk,” the legal disclaimer on the product’s website says it is “for novelty or entertainment purposes only. THOU SHALT NOT SUE IT FOR PREGNANCY OR STI PREVENTION PURPOSES.”
The company behind the registration of the trademarked product is Sumina Global LTD, which filed its foreign application for trademark in February 2015 with Hong Kong listed as the originating filing location. A January 2016 “specimen” photo submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows a photo of the Jiftip logo with the tagline “Just The Tip” on the product pouch.
The company’s trademark registration contains the following goods and services listing: “Condoms; Medical specimen collection devices in the nature of an adhesive flexible sticker covering just the urethra for the containment of urine and semen inside for the collection of urine or semen.”
Physicians dismissed the product as unsafe and a marketing gag.
“Consumers often get caught up in the hype and forget risk,” Jamin Brahmbhatt, a physician with Orlando Health, told USA Today. “Even in the product’s disclaimer, it says it will not prevent pregnancy or STDs, which is the only reason people wear condoms in the first place.”
Natika Halil, chief executive of sexual health charity the Family Planning Association, told The Sun Online: “There’s no evidence to suggest that this product is safe or effective, and it could potentially be very painful.
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