This post has been updated.
Word that Durex was rolling out a pumpkin-spice-flavored condom swept through social media over the weekend:
The autumnal-themed birth control may well be just an internet invention, a riff on Starbucks’ wildly popular coffee drink. The photo in the tweet above appears to be an altered version of Durex’s flavored “Taste Me” range of condoms, which come in apple, strawberry, banana and orange, but not (yet) pumpkin. There have been no corporate announcements about any new offering.
Several emails to Durex’s parent company, Reckitt Benckiser, and Virgo Health, the PR company that handles communications for Durex, didn’t yield a conclusive answer. A spokeswoman for Virgo Health said she couldn’t say whether the company was or was not actually developing such a thing.
Update (Sept. 8): In a tweet, Durex issued a coy denial of the rumor:
Reckitt Benckiser has been growing the Durex brand in emerging markets, as Quartz reported earlier, and transforming it into a “sexual well-being brand.” But any holiday-themed contraception, even involving a certain cult cinnamon and nutmeg-laced spice flavor, must remain in the realm of internet speculation.