BBDO Atl wraps school buses to stop child trafficking

Here’s a horrifying fact from Street Grace, an Atlanta-based non-profit organization that seeks to end the demand for domestic minor sex trafficking – more than 3,600 children are sold into sex slavery every year in Georgia.

To put that into perspective – that’s enough kids to fill 72 school buses.

Continuing to To shine a light on this issue and coming off of last year’s Suburban Horror Story, BBDO Atlanta, Porter Novelli have actually wrapped 72 school buses in anti-human trafficking messaging and sent them through Atlanta, creating a mile-long moving billboard.

The goal: change the conversation from ‘traffic’ to ‘traffick.’

It’s an amazingly creative way to use media and bring attention to a subject many of us choose to ignore. And it’s why this is Reel 360’s ‘Reel Ad of the Week.’

The event, which literally stopped traffic in Atlanta, kicked off with a press conference including the Georgia governor Brian Kemp, attorney general Christopher M. Carr, and a child sex trafficking survivor.

The massiveness of the spectacle demonstrated this problem is too big to ignore. Speakers asked citizens to join them in the fight against sex trafficking, take an online pledge at StopTraffick.com and use the hashtag #StopTraffick. A video shows the procession of buses, while a Facebook video highlights several child sex trafficking survivors and their pleas to reduce the illegal trade.

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“Every day in Atlanta, people talk about our traffic problem. Today, we urge you to talk about our more serious ‘traffick’ problem,” said Bob Rodgers, president and chief executive officer of Street Grace in a statement. “Child sex trafficking is an industry that thrives in darkness. Our goal is to develop a network that will continually shine a light on this issue and put an end to the abuse.”

Every month, about 7,200 men purchase sex with an adolescent woman in Georgia, according to a study by the Schapiro Group. Among men who purchase sex with a young woman, 65% do so in and around suburban metro Atlanta, and 9% do so around the airport.

This campaign is ingenious, brave and horrifying all at the same time. It’s the kind of advertising that made me want to get into the business when I was coming out of college. I do hope it wins many awards and more importantly, brings awareness to this problem in Georgia.

Source: Street Grace

 
CREDITS
CLIENT: Street Grace

PRINT PRODUCTION: Color Spot

 
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.