The NSW government has been forced to pull a campaign around its new sexual consent laws that launched 10 days ago after it was revealed one of the actors in the ad had a dubious TikTok account that saw him ask salacious comments to often drunk young women in the street.
You can read B&T’s initial reporting of the campaign HERE. It’s unclear who the agency is behind the series of ads that appeared on social and popular dating sites such as Tinder.
The TVC’s aim was to educate under 25s on new consent laws that came into place in NSW on the 1st of June that consent must be actively communicated by words or actions, and simply not assumed even if the person is affected by alcohol or drugs.
One of the actors in the ad is a Sydney man called Paul Sterrantino who is now been outed as being behind a TikTok account with 8500 followers where he vox pops young women in the street and asks them inappropriate questions often relating to sex.
Paul Sterrantino as he appears in the NSW government’s consent ad
“What’s something you don’t want your mum knowing?” he asks in one video.
In another he said: “Worst place you’ve had sex?” he asked another woman. To which she replied: “I’m a virgin.”
Sterrantino went viral last week with a video in which a woman at Bondi Beach revealed her biggest regret was her “dick magnet” tattoo.
However, Sterrantino was outed after a concerned father emailed 2GB’s Ben Fordham over the dubious social media account.
Fordham reading an email from the parent live to air in yesterday’s program: “The recent ad campaign regarding consent features an actor called Paul Sterrantino. Take one look at his social media – this bloke is promoting some extremely questionable content that flies in the face of respect for women.”
The father said the ads should be immediately pulled “and all material featuring this hypocrite should never see the light of day again”.
Fordham added that although the women knew they were being filmed it was “pretty clear some of them are affected by alcohol”.
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman confirmed to 2GB the campaign had been removed after the Department of Communities and Justice was made aware of the content.
Sterrantino has not made any public comment.
Fordham told listeners: “The dad was only made aware of the situation when his daughter saw the TV commercial and she was triggered by it because of an interaction she had had with this guy Paul Sterrantino.
“When you look at his presence on social media you quickly realise there’s no way in the world he should be appearing in these ads. His TikTok account is revolting. It’s full of videos of Paul approaching people in public, mainly young women, some of them have had too much to drink, and he talks to them about all sorts of graphic topics. It’s real gutter stuff. One of the aspects of the new consent laws relates to people not being intoxicated,” Fordham said.
