 People dancing in their underwear is the image of the campaign |
A BBC Wales campaign has enlisted the help of Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh to promote safe sex and stop the rise of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs). BBC Wales' Social Action Week aims to raise awareness about STIs with a multi-media promotion called Come Clean.
Organisers hope to attract the attention of the target audience of 18-25 year-olds by a series of humorous television trailers and short films.
"Basically it's people dancing in their pants - and people generally find that funny, said BBC Wales promotions director Dylan Griffith.
Griffith was behind last year's successful anti-testicular cancer campaign, BLLCKS, fronted by the Stereophonics' Stuart Cable.
 It's not our job in the BBC to preach - what we try to do is to connect with the target audience  |
He believes a similar series of TV ads, posters and leaflets can cut through the ignorance and complacency which have led to cases of some sexually-transmitted infections, or STIs, doubling in the past five years.
Trailers for the Come Clean campaign have already begun being screened on BBC Wales and show scantily-dressed young people dancing to music.
"What we're aiming to do is appeal to the regular punter," he said.
"The ads are striking and, we hope, funny - the 'laugh factor' from some early 'road testing' has been promising.
"It's not our job in the BBC to preach - what we try to do is to connect with the target audience, in this case 18-25 year-olds, and to 'float' an idea or message their way.
 The trailer aims to use humour for its serious message |
"The ads and posters also have that 'talkability' factor - I hope that people remember the ads and more importantly remember the underlying message."
The message is to practise safe sex by using a condom.
In the past five years cases of chlamydia and gonorrhoea have doubled in Wales and with genital warts and herpes they form the most common STIs, in Wales.
They are all infections that are passed on during sexual contact so using a condom dramatically reduces the risk of catching any of these diseases.
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has scripted a drama for the campaign which also features five short stories.
Films
The first, Lying In Your Bed in which Darryl talks to his bathroom mirror, pondering the one-night stand he has just had, was screened on BBC Two Wales last night.
The other four are:
Daisy Chain (Monday, 23 March, BBC One Wales) where Daisy makes a little too much effort to find new friends GSOH (Monday, 24 March BBC One Wales) finds an awkward date going horribly wrong for two hopeful singletons The Clinic (Wednesday, 26 March BBC One Wales) an animated look inside the inner workings of Wales' largest sexual health clinic The Shaft Chambers Story (Friday, 28 March BBC One Wales), a spoof animated documentary charting the rise and fall of a Welsh porn star Irvine Welsh's 30-minute drama, Dose, is shown on Tuesday 25 March on BBC One Wales.
It tells the story of Antony Williams, a successful businessman married to frosty wife Rhiannon - played by Lewis' real-life partner Kate Jarman - and the laminate flooring he very successfully sells.
But despite Antony's upright and sensible exterior, he has a wild side, seeking adventurous sex with as many partners as possible.
Until, that is, he acquires a dose of gonorrhoea, from a quite unexpected source.
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