A safe sex campaign is being run by NHS Choices, with a YouTube based film being used to target the youth market.

Principally targeting young men, the film, produced by Omni Productions, aims to be interactive and prompt viewers to make choices through the film, with different scenarios being shown depending on the choices that are made along the way.

The film and the various outcomes of the choices being made are being hosted on the NHS Choices dedicated YouTube channel, and has been seeded across social networking sites.

This is the third product by Omni for the NHS, having last Christmas released two viral films to raise awareness of the ‘hidden’ sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia.

Richard Penfold, director of Omni Productions, explained: “Our brief was to produce an engaging piece of film that would appeal to the target audience, prompt them to think about how it relates to their lives and to get the message across about the importance of using condoms.”

“Young people are bombarded with messages about what they should and shouldn’t do in their everyday lives; we wanted to actively engage young people by producing a thought provoking campaign designed to get them to make their own choices.  By shooting a number of different scenarios and then prompting viewers to decide what they would do at crucial decision making points in the film we have achieved a great response already.”

Lawrie Jones of NHS Bristol which commissioned the film, added: “We’re always searching for new and innovative ways of engaging with a young audience – for whom traditional media can miss.  The brief for this film was to encourage young people to take responsibility for their sexual health by outlining – in some detail – the various choices and consequences you face when making decisions about sex.”