Emotive and Four Seasons Naked Condoms unleashes a group of nasty STI monsters and a nightmare baby on Gen Z. Because they don’t like to wear condoms and they don’t like to be told. Rather than falling back on familiar public service messaging, the campaign uses Gen Z magnets, cinematic storytelling and absurd humour, to make the risks of unsafe sex feel immediate and impossible to ignore.

The hero commercial was created withAI film production specialists, AiCandy Australia, and directed by its filmmaking duo, Too Short For Modelling.

The campaign, The Rise of the STIs, transforms the potential consequences of unsafe sex into grotesque cinematic monsters invading the real world, turning abstract risks into impossible-to-ignore entertainment and embedding an important ad message in youth culture.

The work responds to rising STI rates, especially among Gen Z. Data from the Kirby Institute shows more than 101,000 chlamydia cases in Australia in 2024, with around half among 20–29-year-olds, alongside rising gonorrhoea infections. At the same time, research from La Trobe University shows condom use is falling, with more than half of young Australians not using one the last time they had sex.

“In general practice we see young patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections every single day,” stated Dr Lucy Herron, GP at Coogee Beach Doctors in Sydney. “Chlamydia is very common and often has no symptoms, but can lead to serious complications, including infertility, if not detected early.”

“STI rates are rising, particularly among young Australians, and traditional messaging isn’t cutting through,” added Michael Porter, director at Four Seasons Condoms. “We needed to create something people would actually engage with, using entertainment to make the risks feel real, not abstract.”

The campaign launches on Snapchat, meeting Gen Z where they already spend time.

Gavin McLeod, CCO of Emotive, commented, “We didn’t want to make a film and then cut it down for social. The whole thing was built to exist in feeds from the start. That meant building a system of social-first pieces designed to spark conversation, not just deliver a message.”

A mix of short form content and social extensions created by the Emotive Productions specialist AI team is designed to drive action, not just awareness. Importantly, the campaign is built to evolve in public. As it rolls out, the characters will respond directly to audience comments, turning social reactions into part of the storytelling and extending the idea beyond the launch assets. 

Emotive partnered closely with the AiCandy team from the outset to push the creative idea and explore what high-end AI storytelling could unlock. Through craft, direction and emerging Ai filmmaking techniques, AiCandy designed a cinematic world of STI monsters and a storytelling approach that would be almost impossible to achieve through traditional production methods.

Kent Boswell, co-founder and head of production at AiCandy, noted, “This project was a brilliant creative fusion led by Emotive, working hand in hand with AiCandy’s storytelling craft and our world class AI directing duo, Too Short For Modelling. AI allowed us all to think big and move fast, but at its core this is an epic, human crafted idea shaped through performance, cinematic scale and obsessive attention to detail. It was a tireless amount of work, but seeing the final cut come together made it all worthwhile. Projects like this certainly allow AiCandy to live our mantra of making impossible ideas possible.”

Simon Joyce, founder and CEO of Emotive, added, “Creativity has a big role to play in tackling real issues, but it only works if people choose to engage with it. When the issue is serious, earning attention is what allows the message to land. That’s why the idea had to entertain first, to open the door to a more serious conversation. What makes this unique is the collaboration between AiCandy Australia and the Emotive Productions AI team. It unlocked a level of scale and imagination that would have been almost impossible through traditional production.”

The campaign is a new direction for Four Seasons Condoms, building on its heritage of trust while embracing a more culturally relevant role in shaping conversations around sex, safety and confidence for the next generation.

Credits
Client: Four Seasons Naked Condoms
Managing Director: Michael Porter

Creative Agency, Social AI Production & PR: Emotive
CEO & Founder: Simon Joyce
Executive Strategy Partner: Sebastian Revell
CCO: Gavin McLeod
Creative: Gary Eck
Head of PR & Influencer: Rhania Farah
Head of Social & Content: Clément Simon
Business Directors: Zoe Hartas, Tian Skene
General Manager, Emotive Productions: Hayley-Ritz Pelling
Creative Direction and AI Artists: Paul Sharp, Ed Macaulay
Head of Design: Daniel Mortensen 
Editor: Sam Gadsden
Producer: Michael Hollis
Post Producer: Rebecca Love-Williams
Sound Design: Electric Sheep Music

AI Film Production: AiCandy Australia
Head of Production: Kent Boswell
Head of Creative: Marcus Tesoriero
AI Directors: Too Short For Modelling