Stop the Rise of STIs — Getting young Queenslanders to think about what’s up with their down there

In 2018, sexually transmitted infections were on the rise among young Queenslanders.

And it wasn’t risky attitudes that were driving the trend away from safe sexual behaviour and regular testing. Surprisingly, it was ignorance. Research indicated young people were avoiding the topic entirely due to the ‘cringe-factor’, which resulted in low sexual health literacy.

Although it was clear that young Queenslanders needed urgent sex ed, we knew that an awkward lecture from the government wouldn’t hit the mark. Ideally, the call would have to come from inside the house.

‘Stop the Rise of STI’s’ and ‘STIcebreakers’ used cheeky writing to wrap up safe sex facts and behaviours in meme-like chunks, allowing us to plant a trojan horse of sexual health advice in the group’s social conversation and norms, without the barrier of having ‘the talk’ with a government department.

As a result, engagement was prolific, with over 1 million video views, 800k+ Facebook interactions, and a campaign CTR more than twice the government benchmark.