Officer & Gentleman enlists porn star and educator Nina Hartley for a SFW film about sexual health after 65.
For most American children, suffering through an awkward sex education lesson in school is a rite of passage. Whether the information is accurate is another matter, but after graduation, adults are left to their own devices in the bedroom.
That means members of one of the most sexually active demographics must fend for themselves. Many older Americans left school before sex ed became common, and there’s never been a comprehensive program tailored to their needs—until now. The NSFW video streaming site Pornhub enlisted former porn star and registered nurse Nina Hartley to explain some of the finer points of sex after retirement.
“When we’re adolescents, they show us sex education videos in school, and while they can seem boring, you usually come away with some basics that you may have been too afraid to ask about yourself,” said Alex Katz, ECD at Officer & Gentleman, the Madrid agency that created the campaign. “While our elders may be pillars of wisdom, it seems that many of them are not following the first rule from Sex 101: Always use protection. As a result, the spread of STDs amongst this age group is rampant.” Indeed, among people over the age of 65, rates of chlamydia infection have risen 30 percent over the last 10 years. Syphilis is up 50 percent, and HIV infections are up 40 percent.
While Pornhub’s typical target audience is 18 to 45 year olds, the site was looking to connect with older audiences. It’s not the first time the brand has nodded to its popularity among the Social Security set. A 2015 holiday spot by O&G featured a grandfather overjoyed by the gift of porn.
After uncovering the rising figures for sexually transmitted infections, the agency hit upon the idea of an educational video. The 15-minute short film covers condom use, STIs and safer sex positions for bodies that have become less flexible—information delivered by a face porn-watching seniors would know from her heyday.
“We wanted a host that would not only be recognizable to our target audience, but could also bring some expertise to the film. Nina Hartley checked all those boxes and more,” said Javi Iñiguez de Onzoño, ECD at O&G. Hartley made her pornographic film debut in 1984 and was named AVN’s star of the year three times. The 58-year-old has become an outspoken defender of the industry and a sex-positive educator in the years since.
“When we first pitched the idea to her, she loved it and was eager to do what she could to improve it,” Iñiguez de Onzoño said. “During filming, Nina added a lot of extra tips and personal knowledge that ended up making it to the final cut and improving the project as a whole.” In addition to Hartley, the O&G writers relied on data from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and AARP, as well as Pornhub’s existing sexual health microsite, Pornhub Health.
The four actors in the spot are all senior citizens, though also untraditional. “One was a professional dancer and was doing high kicks any time she had a break in between takes,” Katz said, “and another was too busy fielding all his messages on Match.com to pay us much attention.”
Working with production company Modular and director David Triviño, the team built six individual sets on a soundstage in Málaga in southern Spain, and O&G flew in Hartley from Los Angeles for two days. “It was one of the most fun shoots we’ve ever had,” Katz added.
In keeping with the film’s dated vibe, it’s available in limited quantities on VHS tape to organizations that will use it for educational purposes. It can also be viewed online or downloaded as an MP4 video file. Temporary tattoos from Tattoonie seen in the film are also available.
Shoots for most Pornhub ads are decidedly tame—the site is notorious for a combination of cheeky animated videos or demure live action spots that only reveal the brand’s name at the end.
So this was the first time O&G attended a shoot with an actual porn star. “It’s safe to say that whatever ideas we may have had about people in the adult industry, they were completely dismantled by Nina. We got to spend a lot of time with her on and off set and she was just great—extremely intelligent, worldly, personable and funny,” said Iñiguez de Onzoño. “Also, as you can imagine, she has some really wild stories to tell.”
This story originally appeared in Campaign.
