But much of these narrated, herky-jerky smartphone videos feature genuine heroics. There’s construction worker Wesley Autrey, who jumped onto New York City subway tracks to rescue someone who’d fallen in front of a train. TikTokers also heard the story of 24-year-old Jonathan Baez, who noticed a burning apartment building as he was washing his car. Baez scaled a fence and jumped through a second-floor window, then handed down two toddlers.
This sort of drama aside, Seo explained that men don’t have to risk their lives to be good men. “These guys,” he said, “were just using their strengths to help other people.”
Size actually doesn’t matter
That’s not a common theme for any brand’s marketing, let alone one you find in the prophylactic aisle. (Though it’s primarily a DTC brand, P.S. condom boxes recently appeared on the shelves at Target.)
For the most part, condom advertising has historically taken one of two paths. Some ads went the medical route, addressing family planning or protecting oneself from STDs. Other ads took the macho approach: They likened men to gladiators or suggested that manliness could be measured by a man’s… measurement.
Seo remembers seeing those ads. He also regarded them as part of a broader sociological construct that worshipped the Caucasian alpha male at the expense of everyone else.
“I grew up with a lot of insecurities,” he said. “I’m a skinny Asian guy. I’m not very tall. And especially from the media, Asian guys get emasculated. I grew up thinking that if I was more muscular or bigger or tougher, then I’d be considered more masculine.”
He gave it a hell of a try. After joining the Marines and going to war, Seo headed down to Brazil to completed the Ironman triathlon. For good measure, he got into Wharton, earned his MBA and landed a job at Goldman Sachs.
But none of these experiences defined masculinity as well as watching a fellow Marine share his lunch with a kid in Iraq.
The decision to start a condom brand was purely a business one. Church & Dwight, makers of Trojan, controls more than 70% of the condom segment in America, according to data from Technavio. Nearly all condom brands are legacy companies, Seo added, who have “zero incentive to create something new.” P.S. condoms differentiate themselves by being 15% thinner than existing “ultra-thin” products. And since P.S. doesn’t use parabens, bisphenol A, glycerin or casein—a milk protein that gives many condoms a distinctive odor—Seo has seen proof that consumers will gladly pay $19 for a box of 12 P.S. condoms.