Watch: how the Swiss are using sausages to promote sexual health
A new serious of three videos from the Swiss health ministry aims at raising awareness of safe sex practices while poking fun at the country’s penchant for taking itself seriously.
The first video, which has the earnest tone of a workplace safety presentation, shows a woman demonstrating how to “take the water out an aquarium”. In a thinly-veiled reference to oral sex, the woman takes a “thick pipe” and smells to check that is clean. She then kneels down and begins sucking at the tube until water reaches from the aquarium reaches her mouth. Finally, she spits the liquid out.
The video, which debuted on television at prime time on Sunday, was produced by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health together with the AIDS prevention federation Aids-Hilfe Schweiz and the non-profit organization Sexual Health Switzerland.
The slogan for the irony-filled campaign is “Whatever you are thinking about, think about safe sex” while the aim is to promote Switzlerland's Love Life website – a portal that contains information on how to practice safer sex, contact details for testing clinics and a tool designed to help people assess their risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases.
In the second video in the new campaign, which deals with anal sex, a man demonstrates how to operate a drill machine by first applying liquid to a steel plate and “to the tip of his drill”. A larger drill bit is eventually selected but not before our instructor closes the window “so as not to disturb the neighbours”.
In the final video in the series, two chefs are shown making sausages as a way of explaining how condoms are put on.
The videos are not provocative, health ministry spokesperson Adrien Kay told Swiss news site 20 minutes.
“In its [long-running] Love-Life Campaign, the ministry has been clearly saying forever what it’s all about: protected sex,” he said.
“Playing with clichés and humour makes the videos more accessible and that means they work better,” the ministry spokesman added.
The actress in the aquarium video also said the videos “made a lot of sense” although she added that the filming had been a bit nerve-wracking as she did not know how much water would come out of the pipe.
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The first video, which has the earnest tone of a workplace safety presentation, shows a woman demonstrating how to “take the water out an aquarium”. In a thinly-veiled reference to oral sex, the woman takes a “thick pipe” and smells to check that is clean. She then kneels down and begins sucking at the tube until water reaches from the aquarium reaches her mouth. Finally, she spits the liquid out.
The video, which debuted on television at prime time on Sunday, was produced by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health together with the AIDS prevention federation Aids-Hilfe Schweiz and the non-profit organization Sexual Health Switzerland.
The slogan for the irony-filled campaign is “Whatever you are thinking about, think about safe sex” while the aim is to promote Switzlerland's Love Life website – a portal that contains information on how to practice safer sex, contact details for testing clinics and a tool designed to help people assess their risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases.
In the second video in the new campaign, which deals with anal sex, a man demonstrates how to operate a drill machine by first applying liquid to a steel plate and “to the tip of his drill”. A larger drill bit is eventually selected but not before our instructor closes the window “so as not to disturb the neighbours”.
In the final video in the series, two chefs are shown making sausages as a way of explaining how condoms are put on.
The videos are not provocative, health ministry spokesperson Adrien Kay told Swiss news site 20 minutes.
“In its [long-running] Love-Life Campaign, the ministry has been clearly saying forever what it’s all about: protected sex,” he said.
“Playing with clichés and humour makes the videos more accessible and that means they work better,” the ministry spokesman added.
The actress in the aquarium video also said the videos “made a lot of sense” although she added that the filming had been a bit nerve-wracking as she did not know how much water would come out of the pipe.
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