Any form of sexual interaction contains risk, for example the risk of pregnancy and/or STI transmission. There are a range of measures that can be used to prevent the above mentioned risks, namely contraceptive practices. However, condom use is the best method to prevent all risks related to sex. Although South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV (Shisana et al., 2009), it has been found that the HIV prevalence is low amongst students in comparison to nationwide statistics (HEAIDS, 2010). Additionally condom use amongst students at last sex is reportedly high (HEAIDS, 2010). However there are many reasons why students in particular do not engage in protective sexual practices such as condom use. The question that guided this research study was what motivates students to engage or not engage in condom use? The study explored dynamics of condom use amongst heterosexual students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg. This qualitative study used Hollway (1984) and Willig’s (1995) discourses to examine the ways in which men and women relate to each other in engaging in sex, relationships and protective sexual practices. Information was gathered using two focus groups (one female and one male group) and five individual interviews. Students saw the risks related to pregnancy and HIV differently which impacted on their preferred method of contraceptive use and the ways in which they viewed condom use. Students seem to draw on Hollway’s (1984) “male sexual drive discourse” and “have/hold discourse”, and Willig’s (1995) “marital discourse”, to position themselves with regards to each other and their sexual activities. This suggests a need to redirect health promotion strategies.

HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic; and for South African Authorities it is still a huge concern. 17 per cent of the population aged 15 to 49 live with the HIV virus and KwaZulu-Natal remains the area most affected by the pandemic. In order to prevent the disease’s expansion among university students, the health authorities have make available across all campuses and for free Choice and Love condoms.This study explores the perception of the positioning of these government brands compared to the other commercial condoms available among students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The study is in part a survey, using research questionnaire administered to more than 200 students at the Westville and Howard College and Nelson Mandela Medical School campuses to determine their perceptions of the competing condom brands. The study primarily makes use of the marketing theory of brand positioning to address the issue; a perceptual map is designed indicating the respective positions of the competing brands. The survey revealed that the Love brand is not very well known by students, and confirmed that the Choice brand is perceived as poor. One reason provided is the negative association of the South African government with the brand. Many students complained of experiencing a bad smell after using Choice. That led to the variant of scent being used in the study as an essential component for condom preference. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.