As it turns out, not everyone is a fan of having a giant penis sneak up on them and splooge golden confetti everywhere.
When sex education charity RFSU tasked enthusiastically-named Norwegian agency Involve! with promoting condom use in the face of rising chlamydia rates in Norway, the agency thought big…big penis. They created a giant penis suit and hired 19-year-old student Philip van Eck to wear it, since he was tall enough to fit in the costume. He then sneaked up on unsuspecting passers-by and sprayed confetti from an opening in the top of the costume. The stunt was meant to illustrate the campaign message (and tagline), “Penis can surprise you” (“Tiss kan overraske,” in Norwegian). While younger audiences (probably the more important demographic here) generally found the stunt hilarious, not everyone was amused. Adweek claims that many in the over-30 crowd didn’t care for the stunt and called it “pointless and banal” (although perhaps “masturbatory” would have been a more appropriate criticism).
“If I can do a good thing for others, just by being a dick, there is nothing better,” van Eck told the publication. “The filming was not unproblematic, as passers-by wanted selfies with the giant penis. Suddenly, lots of people wanted to touch the penis and take pictures with the penis. I almost felt harassed.”
Apparently being a giant dick isn’t always easy, as our commenters can surely attest.