Climate campaigners turn to Lily Phillips and OnlyFans creators to 'save the world'

Reeling off the back of a summer of deadly heatwaves scorching Europe, devastating floods in Nepal and the rising influence of El Niño, climate change is sadly an everyday reality we must face.

Climate campaigners, after years of using traditional means to warn the public of the ongoing emergency, have now turned to an unlikely source to spread the message to the masses: adult content creators.

Enter: Headline Newds. The social media series, which is back for a second season, sees adult content creators explain difficult climate issues while parodying porn clichés.

Lily Phillips stars in Headline Newds

Headline Newds

“None of us would know about it if it wasn't for her. No one. Nobody would. So we were kind of taking the idea that if it's not funny and it's not sexy, it doesn't work, so it really has to be both,” climate narrative strategist Jessica Riches told The Standard.

Riches, who has been working in climate communications for over a decade, said it was time to try a new approach.

“I've been very serious for a living my entire life. And as soon as I started taking my clothes off for climate change, I got far more attention than I did in the years that I worked on huge campaigns with NGOs, charities, big organisations.

The inspiration came from Margot Robbie’s iconic bath scene in The Big Short, where she explains subprime mortgages

“The second I was like, ‘Nope, there is another way to do this,’ the attention came rushing in in ways that we could not have imagined.”

Joining the cast for season two is Lily Phillips, the adult film star who has made headlines for her controversial sexual challenges.

Phillips said she is aware of her huge following and wants to use her name to help get important issues out there.

“I wouldn’t pretend I’ve always been massively educated on climate change, because I haven’t. That’s actually part of why I wanted to do this,” she told The Standard.

Phillips said that creators like herself have audiences that traditional mainstream media and campaigners might struggle to reach

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“There are probably loads of people my age who know it’s important but don’t necessarily engage with traditional climate news or understand all of it. I’m learning too and I think there’s something quite relatable about that.”

She said that creators like herself have audiences that traditional mainstream media and campaigners might struggle to reach. “That can only be a good thing,” she said.

Dismissing concerns that her involvement is a stunt to boost her own profile, Philips stressed that she is not trying to be a scientist, and instead envisages herself as a bridge between the experts and the masses.

Megan Prescott turned to adult content creation during the pandemic, spurred on by encouragement from her friends

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She said that the series has already reached millions of people, with viewers engaging “like nothing else I’ve ever posted”.

Prescott shot to fame in 2009 when she was cast as Katie Fitch in the teen drama, where she starred alongside Kaya Scoderlario, Jack O’Connell, and her identical twin Kathryn Prescott in the third and fourth seasons.

She turned to adult content creation during the pandemic, spurred on by encouragement from her friends after missing out on furlough whilst working at a wine distillery.

Prescott, who is also a co-creator and producer of the series, explained there is an uncommon link between sex workers and big oil companies, which has placed adult content creators in a unique position.

“For centuries, the voices of sex workers have been censored and suppressed, and I think we've seen decades of big oil suppressing and censoring the truth about what they're doing.

Megan Prescott stars in Headline Newds

Headline Newds

“So it just felt natural that people that are used to navigating suppression and being silenced are the ones that are like, ‘Hey, guess what terrible thing is going on in the world that you don't know about. I'm gonna tell you about it.’”

The series, made in collaboration with Yellow Dot Studios, a non-profit media studio founded by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Adam McKay, director of climate black comedy Don’t Look Up and Headlines Newds’ inspiration, The Big Short.

Last season, which covered topics including solar energy, climate censorship, extreme heat, flooding and fossil-fuel financing, found 71% of its audience with men, with those aged between 35 - 44 making up the single largest viewing demographic.

“Sex workers have a way with men,” said Riches, who explained that since launching the show, she has begun having conversations on the climate crisis with both concerned and confused men.

The project is made in collaboration with director Adam McKay’s Yellow Dot Studios

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“It’s a really vulnerable thing to say that you're scared, and we're existing in a masculinity crisis.

“And I think that tapping into something more human and natural and connected than science facts about the climate crisis is opening up the doors for people to have emotional responses.”

The second series, also produced by filmmaker Bree Essrigm, will be released next week.

“My hope for this is because we're reaching so many people who have not been targeted with climate comms before, everyone in their individual journey will be able to just take one thing away that increases their knowledge or their understanding or their drive to change,” Riches said.