NYPD to condom vendor: Wrap it up

Condom vendor Jose Andujar, 43, is having a hard time. Police have arrested the prophylactic peddler three times for selling condoms printed with President Barack Obama’s grinning mug in Times Square.

“They take away everything — my signs, my condoms,” Andujar said. “It costs me a lot, over $100 in product.”

The police told Metro Andujar needs a vendor permit, but a New York Criminal Court judge thinks differently. Andujar has written permission from a judge that his right to sell the condoms is protected by the First Amendment.

“There can be no dispute that the condoms at issue here are items, and that these items bear a political message,” decreed Judge Lynn R. Kotler earlier this year, when Andujar appeared in court for vending without a license. Kotler cited a 2005 letter from the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs, which read “items bearing political messages” do not require a general vendor license.

“I pay my taxes, I have a letter from a judge,” said Andujar. “I don’t know why they think it’s illegal. The NYPD is going rogue.”

Andujar says he can make $70 in four hours selling Obama condoms, mostly to women in their mid-20s. Three sell for $10, two for $7, and one for $5.

“Someone at the NYPD thinks condoms are offensive and doesn’t want me selling them,” said Andujar. “This isn’t a family [barbecue], this is Times Square.”

Political thinker

Every box of Obama condoms includes this declaration:

“Our most obvious play on words yet, ‘The Ultimate Stimulus Package’ is meant to call attention to the severity of our economic state. Many Americans think that the stimulus package is full of holes, however, ours is not. It is intended to get the general public laid, not laid off, and to use comedy to stimulate political awareness and conversation.”


Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.