Condom ads used in green campaign

A condom protects against pollution in this climate change advert

Poster adverts showing condoms symbolising protection against pollution harmful to the environment are being launched by green activists.

The government-funded Friends of the Earth adverts show a coal station chimney, a car exhaust and an aeroplane engine covered by a condom.

Condoms were used to illustrate the message that climate change can be stopped by human actions.

The campaign is being launched at 30 English universities.

Its website includes a game involving a polar bear which destroys a 4x4 vehicle by hurling ice cubes at it.

The campaign coincides with a survey by Friends of the Earth which suggests that 95% of students think that climate change should be the government's biggest priority, above the Iraq war, terrorism and student loans.

But the survey, of 706 students at 60 English universities, suggests that only 12% are satisfied with the government's efforts to combat climate change.

A coal station covered by a condom in a Friends of the Earth advert

The campaign includes a website where students can play a game inviting them to "crush the filthy Chelsea tractor before it melts the North Pole".

Motoring organisations may not be pleased with the game but a spokesman for Friends of the Earth emphasised that the website was "a light-hearted way of conveying a serious message".

He said he had not received any negative comments about the condom ads or the website.

The condom adverts will feature in posters and on table top adverts in bars and canteens at universities including Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool and Plymouth.

The campaign runs for four weeks from 29 January.

Many scientists accept that people are to blame for climate change but some either maintain that temperatures are not rising or say it is down to natural variation.