A campaign to raise awareness among young men of how to report crimes involving indecent images of children has gained more than 8.5 million user impressions and 5.4 million views.

The ‘Something’s Not Right’ campaign is a collaboration between social video firm Brave Bison, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the Marie Collins Foundation (MCF).

The IWF works to remove child sexual abuse materials from the internet, while the MCF offers services to individuals and families affected by it.

Brave Bison enlisted comedian Arron Crascall and YouTuber EmanSV2 to participate in the campaign and highlight the need for better education around the subject of online child abuse.

The target audience for Something’s Not Right was men aged between 18 and 24. While 80% of this age group can recognise children in indecent images are harmed by the experience, only 58% know how or where to report a crime of that nature, according to research from the IWF and MCF.

CEO of Brave Bison, Oliver Green, said the company was well-placed to come up with an effective social media strategy to reach this demographic, and chose influencers, Arron Crascall and EmanSV2, because their combined following of 5 million fit the target audience.

The influencers posted “deliberate mishap” photos to their Instagram accounts – Crascall posting a picture of himself lifting weights in the gym, with his friend visible in the mirror supporting the loaded barbell. EmanSV2 posted an image of himself wearing both Arsenal and Spurs kit.

Followers commented on the posts, calling out the mishaps, and 24 hours later the influencers revealed the posts were part of the awareness campaign, encouraging their fans to report when they see that ‘Something’s Not Right’.

Green said it is not easy initiating a discussion with an audience on social media about a serious topic, so for the campaign they chose to “provoke them in a way that would make them engage with the content”. He said the photos were a way to trigger the audience to comment and point out the mistake without making the audience uncomfortable.

“I think it was very genuine, very authentic,” said Green. “The content was not something you could scroll past without taking a look at.”

Chief executive of the IWF, Susie Hargreaves OBE, said the role Brave Bison played in the campaign was “spot on”, and its participation, alongside Crascall and EmanSV2, helped the message reach more people.

Arron Crascall said he was glad to be involved in the campaign, and that being “involved in changing lives is a great feeling.”

Brave Bison was chosen for the campaign based on its experience in influencer marketing, and Green said the company would consider being involved in other campaigns of this nature in the future.

He added: “We’re keen to change the narrative around social media and how it can have a positive impact on our culture and society. We fully appreciate that there are some pitfalls, but at the same time I think there is social for good.”