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Condoms - In 1975 KNTV in San
Jose, California (an ABC affiliate) became the first U.S. Station to run a
condom commercial for Trojan condoms. The spot aired despite a ban on
commercials with contraceptives, per the National Association of
Broadcasters. Due to the outcry from the public, the ad was "pulled out."
In January 1987, San Francisco station KRON-TV becomes the first major
market TV station in the U.S. to air a condom commercial.
On a February, 1987 episode entitled "Bad Timing" on the sitcom THE HOGAN
FAMILY/NBC/CBS/1986-90 the word "condom" was used for the first time in a
sitcom script.
The award-winning police drama CAGNEY & LACEY/CBS/1982-88 was the first show
to ever incorporate a condom scene. During one episode, when Detective Mary
Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly) young son Harvey Jr. (Tony La Torre) learns her son
is going on his first date, she opened a drawer, pulled out a condom, and
gave it to her son. In a later episode, Mary Beth's partner Christine Cagney
(Sharon Gless) reunited with her boyfriend but warns him that she will not
have sex unless he uses a condom.
In the summer of 1989 four San Antonio TV stations ran six weeks of trial
commercials featuring an oral contraceptive manufactured by a Texas Company
called Lexis Pharmaceuticals. John Bryer, Chief Executive of Lexis said in a
TV Guide interview "It was the first time ever, anywhere, that an
oral contraceptive was advertised on television."
During the 11/13/91 installment of THE TONIGHT SHOW host Johnny Carson
remarked in his opening monologue that the FOX Network announced they would
broadcast condom commercials in the near future. Carson questioned their
decision wondering if it was "wise to advertise something that could
eliminate your next generation of viewers?"
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