Charity Porno Campaign Goes Viral

An Australian charity’s risque men's health campaign has raised eyebrows, with over one million people viewing it in just a few days.

In a world-first, the Blue Ball Foundation teamed up with leading Los Angeles adult film studio Digital Playground to create a pornographic film with a serious message.

The film, entitled Game of Balls and part of the Play With Yourself campaign, piggybacked off the popularity of the hit HBO series Game of Thrones.

Halfway through the X-rated movie, adult film star Eva Lovia stops to deliver a message about the importance of men checking themselves for signs of testicular cancer.

Lovia even demonstrates the correct technique for checking one’s testicals on her male co-star.

The charity said the pornographic film was already in the works and Digital Playground agreed to include the message as part of World Testicular Cancer Month.

Founder of the Blue Ball Foundation, Jamie Morgan, from Bendigo in Victoria, said he could not turn down the opportunity for his charity to appear in the film.

“My first thought was ‘wow, what a great opportunity to spread the word to a massive audience of Aussie men in the key 20-39 age bracket we target’. We’ve been waiting for the right large-scale opportunity to present itself – and here it is,” Morgan said.

“Play with Yourself will save many men from dying unnecessarily from this slow-growing cancer.

“The last thing young men will be expecting to see while watch an adult movie is the star… [addressing] the viewer with a message about testicular cancer. So we think the message will really break through.

“Also, our aim has always been to spread the message in a fun way, so as not to overwhelm blokes with fear. This project does exactly that.”

The star of the film, Eva Lovia, said the pornographic campaign was an important and valid way of raising awareness of testicular cancer.

“In Australia the men are actually 21 per cent more likely to get testicular cancer,” Lovia said.

“If we save one life it’s totally worth it. If you catch it early enough then you have a 97 per cent chance of survival.”

Morgan said his own journey with testicular cancer drove him to establish the Blue Ball Foundation.

“I was diagnosed with testicular cancer and had surgery in September 2011, having my left testicle removed. During my recovery, I did a standup comedy performance talking about my cancer scare,” he said.

“I met [Mike Elliot] on the night and we got talking about the symptoms etc. Mike had a horrible gut feeling he might have those same symptoms, so he got himself checked by his GP and was also diagnosed with testicular cancer. He went in for surgery and had his left testicle removed too.

“During recovery, we met up again, became mates, and decided we needed to set up a foundation in Australia – because there wasn’t one – to get the message out to Aussie men.”