Be A Rubberman (1990)

The Rubberman Campaign began in June 1990 at the annual San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Parade and Celebration. It was a multi-media campaign combined with street outreach components.

The initial billboard proclaimed "The Man of My Dreams Is a Rubberman." Ads appeared in the gay and bisexual press with safe sex messages directed at the target population. One of these ads was also used as a bus shelter poster which was strategically placed in various neighborhoods.

Models for these ads were taken from the actual group of Rubbermen who were formed to participate in bar "zaps." There were forty men in the initial group of Rubbermen. They went as a group every other Saturday night for twenty weeks into the bars distributing condoms. We emphasized that they should go in and out quickly, thus the term "zap."

In October 1990, the Rubberman calendar was released. Over five thousand calendars were distributed. Those receiving the calendar were requested to sign a safe sex pledge making them Honorary Rubbermen.

In January 1991, the Rubberman of the Year Contest was conducted before an audience of 1000 people. The event was free and featured top entertainment along with safe sex messages centering on the proper use of condoms & lubricant.

Rubberman Phase II began in March of 1991 with new billboards, this time exhorting to "Be A Rubberman--Use A Condom Every Time." These billboards featured multiracial images for the gay and bisexual community. New Bar cards were printed along with a new set of ads.

Zaps were scheduled for the Spring of 1991. Zaps also were extended to include numerous special events and street fairs during that time period.

The goals of the Rubberman program were simple--put out positive messages to the gay and bisexual community that equated attractive and desirable men with safe sex and condoms; and put condoms and information in the hands of gay and bisexual men in bars and clubs where they may be most likely to pick up someone for the night so that when they went home, they would have the condoms necessary for safe sex