Online businesses and the rise of e-commerce has seen almost any commodity put up for sale in the past three to four decades. However, a peculiar business in Harvard University of the 80s raised quite a number of eyelids.
The service entailed the order and delivery of condoms amongst students. Calling themselves Sperm Busters, a group of six freshmen students established the “condom courier service” in 1985.
With a token of 75 cents, students could place their orders at night and have the package delivered to their door within 30 minutes.
With complete confidentiality, needy students could call the group’s room number anytime from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. and request a condom, selecting either the regular rate (75 cents and delivered within thirty minutes) or the “God I Need It Now” rate ($1.50 and delivered within three minutes).
“It’s really more of a service than a business,” said Guiseppe Labianca, one of the up-and-coming entrepreneurs who conceived of the project.
“We decided it was important. We don’t want unwanted pregnancies at Harvard, and we thought, why shouldn’t students have condoms delivered to them. It’s sort of like a pizza service, only we wouldn’t have different flavours,” Labianca said.
However, the students were clearly out of order as such a service was not condoned by the rule books. The school authority tagging it a “violation of University regulation” and a “project that is irresponsible and in poor taste.”
The idea of the project being in poor taste comes as “Sperm Busters” publicity campaign was created with the motto: “Guaranteed to come before you do.”
But the students say they were entirely sincere. “At first glance, most people start laughing at the posters,” said Labianca, “but it’s no joke. We think that as time goes on and people see we’re serious they’ll take it seriously.”
The six students who organized the business were Labianca, J.B. Backstrom, Reed Maltzman, Andy Osborn, Michael Whitmire, and Darius Zoroufy.
Labianca stressed the confidentiality of the service. “We don’t know who we’re delivering it to,” he says. “We’ll just charge for it and drop it off–the person doesn’t even have to see us. Nobody but us will ever know.
