In a way, maybe it's good that we have one word for the concept.
This was a vegan comment.
(Certainly not the first, but the first "big" news story that came to mind)
Apparently, this has messed up tests for latex allergy:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091674999...
Still, veganism is much more than just a diet and this meaning is what was meant by the vegan-friendly natural latex.
I do assume that people who have never googled "veganism" might have negative opinion of these condoms, but I guess they also won't be aware of the struggles of third world countries and won't care about the goal of this company.
Not that I don't find the fact that veganism had to be mention entertaining.
Except it doesn't taste as good, which is 90% of the whole point.
However, there are certainly non-vegan condoms.
I struggled about my comment because I don't like being negative for the sake of it, but here's why I think this issue might actually matter.
Let's say you really care about selling this condoms as a mean of helping, and you have two alternatives: BoringCondom©, which is pretty much just a condom, and the AlternativeCondom©. If AlternativeCondom is provable better than BoringCondom and people buy more of those, then by all means sell it and everyone will be happier. But what if AlternativeCondom is actually putting people off your product? Wouldn't your help more people by doing it the boring way?
Based on votes number here, my complaint seems to have resonated slightly. If we take those numbers to be The Absolute Truth, then "vegan condom" may actually be hurting their statement, which is why I pointed it out.
If indeed. I think I can understand why you are reasoning this way, but in the end it is just nothing more than a pretty wild (and incorrect) overgeneralization? I don't like most vegan food, tastewise, but that doesn't influence me in choosing vegan/animal-friendly alternatives over other products which are not food related.
> L. condoms are made with non-toxic, vegan-friendly natural latex
This sentence right here puts me off the whole thing (if I lived in an area where they are sold, of course), and it might be useful to share why.
The thing is: as a guy, I'm terrified of condoms already (of course, I still use them). They may break, they may slip off, they have to be applied following a certain, almost clinical procedure. And now you have "vegan-friendly" as a selling point. I have no idea why should a condom be vegan, and as a non-vegan myself all the contact I have with vegan things is through the vegan menu at my cafeteria.
But the vegan menu sucks. So does replacing regular milk with coconut milk to make cookies vegan (I've tried). If a "vegan-friendly condom" is to condoms what the vegan menu is to the regular menu, I am now certain that the chance of breaking will be higher, or that it will feel weird, and that the only reason the thing is around is because "that's the only vegan alternative we have" (pretty much like the vegan menu).
Maybe things are different enough in San Francisco to make a difference, and people protest loudly to have a vegan condom. Or maybe one of the founders is vegan. The rational part of my brain says that they are perfectly safe and probably indistinguishable from a regular condom. Unfortunately, I shop mostly with my irrational side.