TLDR
Four Seasons Naked Condoms and agency Emotive turned chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis into AI-generated kaiju monsters for a Snapchat-first campaign. Australia recorded 101,742 chlamydia cases and 44,210 gonorrhoea diagnoses in 2024, both roughly double the figures from a decade ago.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Monsters in the feed
Four Seasons Naked Condoms asked independent agency Emotive to make STIs feel threatening. Emotive, working with AI film production specialists AiCandy Australia, turned chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis into grotesque cinematic monsters for a campaign called "The Rise of the STIs".[1]
Emotive named the technology openly in the campaign headline rather than tucking it into the credits.[1]
The numbers behind the monsters
Australia recorded 44,210 gonorrhoea diagnoses in 2024, roughly double the figure from a decade earlier.[4] Syphilis diagnoses reached 5,866 in the same year, also roughly double the ten-year-prior count.[4]
Chlamydia logged 101,742 cases in 2024, with roughly half among Australians aged 20 to 29.[3] Running alongside those figures is a decade-long slide in condom use: La Trobe University research found condom use among Australian Year 12 students fell from 59 per cent in 1992 to 49 per cent in 2021.[2]
Dr Lucy Herron, a general practitioner at Coogee Beach Doctors in Sydney, said young patients with STIs come through her clinic daily. "In general practice we see young patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections every single day. Chlamydia is very common and often has no symptoms, but can lead to serious complications, including infertility, if not detected early."[1]
Made for Snapchat first
Gavin McLeod, chief creative officer at Emotive, said the production logic started with the platform. "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."[1] The rollout leads on Snapchat, with content designed to evolve in response to audience comments.[1]
Michael Porter, director at Four Seasons Condoms, said conventional approaches had stopped working. "STI rates are rising, particularly among young Australians, and traditional messaging isn't cutting through. We needed to create something people would actually engage with, using entertainment to make the risks feel real, not abstract."[1]
Where Australian ad rules sit on AI disclosure
Ad Standards and the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) require commercial content to be clearly distinguishable and honest, but neither body has issued a rule requiring advertisers to label AI-generated creative. Industry discussions are ongoing about how existing honesty and clarity standards apply when generative tools produce the imagery.
The campaign's makers told B&T they "never tried to dupe the audience". The AANA has not given a timeline for issuing specific AI guidance.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the 'Rise of the STIs' campaign?
How bad are STI rates in Australia?
Do Australian advertisers have to label AI-generated content?
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
