“Feeling Lucky? Jimmie Hatz condoms are available Dotted, Ribbed and in XL Great Danes for the real players putting in work. So when the moment of truth arrives – you know what to do. Pick the brand that fits you … Pick up a pack and GET IT ON!” as the ad says. As per the official Jimmie Hatz Web site (www.jimmiehatz.com), the hip-hop world now has an official condom: “Jimmie Hatz.”
In an interview with CNN correspondent Meriah Doty, Harry Terrell expressed his motives for marketing “Jimmie Hatz” condoms – to assure kids and teenagers that using protection is the “cool or the ‘in’ thing to do.”
As CEO of Common Grounds USA, Terrell has been assuring consumers and critics that the condoms are not part of a plan to end up swimming in cash. Rather, his idea is the product of a painful tragedy Terrell has struggled with since 1999.
In 1999, one of the players on the high school basketball team Terrell coached contracted HIV.
Terrell told CNN reporter Meriah Doty: “I wanted to be supportive of him as possible. I wanted to learn as much as I could about HIV and AIDS.”
So what did he do? Terrell conceived the idea to popularize condoms with the hip-hop crowd. He took all his money out of his 401k plan and began manufacturing “Jimmie Hatz.”
Projected to hit stores in early 2004, the condoms currently are available only via the Web site. According to the Web site, the Rottweiler variety “holds true to its canine namesake, a protector of its owner or in our case, its wearer.” A variety of different textured condoms are marketed alongside the “Great Dane” condom for larger wearers. Flavored condoms and a “Mixed Breed” variety are on the way.
So why the need for “The Official Condom of Hip Hop Kulture?” Why not just pick up a Trojan? As posted on www.jimmiehatz.com, “The CDC says the number of AIDS and HIV cases is increasing at alarming rate and shows no sign of decline. African-Americans represent the highest number followed by Hispanics.
In 2000, the last year for which national facts are available, more African-Americans were reported with AIDS than any other racial/ethnic group.”
Terrell also told Meriah Doty that although he initially believed – like so many others – HIV/AIDS to be “a white man’s disease,” he found the numbers revealed quite the contrary.
As with the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, education is key. And Terrell is doing what he can to educate a culture that in many areas is embraced by inner city communities, where adequate sexual health education is not provided.
Terrell has told CNN correspondents: “I wanted to save the subculture called hip-hop” and I commend him for his efforts to battle the monster we call HIV/AIDS.
Hip-hop contraceptives
July 21, 2003