A video created by a Sheffield marketing agency has gone global – after becoming an overnight viral sensation.
The tongue-in-cheek video called ’10 Ways A Condom Can’t Protect You’ was developed by Diva Creative and Sheffield’s Centre for HIV & Sexual Health.
It conveys a serious message about how using condoms can provide protection from sexually transmitted infections.
But it also features humorous situations in which a condom is useless – an alien invasion, shark attack, hulk smash, magic spells, embarrassing yourself, wrecking ball, big bad wolf, death star and an attack by a velociraptor.
The clip was shared by high-profile blog Upworthy on a page that has been viewed more than 243,000 times by visitors from around the world.
The YouTube version has been watched more than 160,000 times, while more than 6,700 Facebook users have ‘liked’ a link to the Upworthy article.
Amanda Pearce, director at Diva Creative, based in the Workstation, said: “The use of humour in ‘10 Ways’ has helped raise awareness of an important issue and got people not only to watch the clip and take in its message, but also pass it on to their friends.
“It continues to be shared on social media and we are pleased to see so many people making positive comments about our approach to the subject.”
It is not the first time a campaign by Diva and the Centre for HIV & Sexual Health has achieved viral success.
Their ‘HIV Hop’ comedy rap video, launched in November last year, has been watched more than 17,000 times and won three awards.
The Centre for HIV works to prevent HIV and sexually transmitted infections and provide support.