Filmmakers recruit OnlyFans stars to make climate crisis messaging sexy

In a bid to bring public attention to the global climate crisis, a group of filmmakers have taken an unusual approach; recruiting OnlyFans stars.

This year alone has seen countries around the world gripped by devastating wildfires amid extreme temperatures of 40C and above.

But environmental campaigners face an increasingly difficult question; how do you make people pay attention to the climate crisis if traditional messaging is no longer cutting through?

For director Megan Prescott and writers Jessica Riches and Bree Essrig, the answer is unorthodox but simple — make learning about climate change sexy.

Released by the non-profit Yellow Dot Studios — owned by Adam McKay, creator of The Big Short and Don’t Look Up, their project Headline Newds pays top-ranking OnlyFans stars to don lingerie while explaining the climate crisis through innuendos.

Prescott, who also stars in the series’ pilot episode, describes the move as a response to general apathy around the environment: “People don’t want to be lectured or be bored listening to climate science.

“So it feels like a no-brainer to use content creators that people are already obsessed with, and already paying so much attention to, to talk about really important issues.

“And yes, it’s an unlikely joining of worlds, but this has gotten people to pay attention to climate change in a way that they have never done before.”

In Prescott’s episode, The Sun Is Daddy, she breaks down the benefits of solar-powered energy while slowly taking off her clothes.

Unsafe Words, another episode, sees Essrig clad in thigh-high leather boots as she explains the American government’s lack of climate action.

Riches, the writer behind the project, believes that far from mere titillation, sex can not only sell but inform.

“Psychologically, we shut down when we’re facing threats to our existence,” she says. “Because this is such an unexpected messenger, in such an unexpected space — presenting climate science like this gives us the ability to bypass our brain’s defence mechanisms, so that the information might actually stick, instead of being shut out.”

Riches is aware of potential backlash given the seriousness of the subject matter, but says criticism is misdirected.

“I understand why [some viewers] are upset and angry, because why do we have to have beautiful women in no clothes talking about this to try and draw attention?” she says.

“But we live in a very different world to the one that’s been presented to us, and climate is just one of the symptoms of this structural inequality.

“We’re at a point now where we have to do anything we can — the situation with the climate is dire.

“Through using sexuality, people pay attention in a way that they just don’t through traditional messaging.

“A lot of people probably wouldn’t think this, but all of the sex workers in this series really do care about the environment. We had so many people approach us to be a part of this project.”

As Headline Newds prepares for the release of its second series next month, set to include adult film star Lily Phillips, Riches is optimistic about its impact.

Citing the project’s high engagement figures, she told The Independent: “You don’t usually get to reinvent the wheel when it comes to comms efforts that have been going on for decades, but this does.

“It’s a real call for those in the climate-awareness industry to be more daring, to take more risks, and I do think it will change the general impact-creating community.”