Winner Of Package Design For 'Philadelphia Condom' Announced

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - City officials today announced the winner of a contest to design the package for a special Philadelphia condom (see previous story).

"The winner is Michael Bodenberger with the Freedom Condom design," said Mayor Michael Nutter at a City Hall ceremony this morning.

The wrapper is a tasteful blue-and-white graphic in which the words share the same ending -- "dom" -- so it reads "free con dom," which it is.

The city plans to distribute one million of them this year, with an eye to making them more accessible to teenagers.

Philadelphia health commissioner Don Schwartz says the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows Philadelphia has the highest number of sexually active teens and one of the lowest numbers of those who use condoms.

"We have a problem related to reproductive behavior for our youth that goes beyond what we may talk about usually, and leads us to say this is a crisis among young people," Dr. Schwartz says.

The Freedom Condom will be available through 100 sites including corner stores and beauty salons.

Reported by Pat Loeb, KYW Newsradio 1060.