Social media campaign will expose internal sex trafficking of young teenage girls

Author: Rebecca Jesson
Date Created: Feb 1, 2010 - 1:01:02 PM

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Right now, vulnerable teenage girls, some as  young as 12, are being trafficked across Great Britain, lured into  relationships by young men who shower them with attention, gifts, alcohol and  drugs before entrapping them into a life of sexual slavery.

Until now, this shocking crime has remained  largely hidden in the UK, but thanks to a ground breaking new campaign, eyes  are being opened to the danger.

The cross platform campaign, ‘My Dangerous  Loverboy’ aims to raise awareness of internal sex trafficking of teenage girls  in a variety of ways, such as the production of a short film, interactive  campaign, website and the use of social  media such as bebo, Facebook,  MySpace and mobile technology.

The campaign, created by digital  marketing agency Quba, VKH Films and Faction North Films, is aimed at  teenage girls to help raise awareness directly with the affected group and  encourage them to look out for their friends.

Unlike the trafficking of people across  international borders, internal trafficking within one country is a hidden and  growing crime that is largely ignored or misunderstood.

‘Loverboys’ are paid to seduce girls, cut them  off from family and friends and then traffic them from one town to another.  These original ‘boyfriends’ then disappear and the girls are passed on to older  men.

The My Dangerous Loverboy film is a high  quality, short drama produced by Grant Keir and directed by Virginia Heath that  tells the ‘typical’ story of a young girl, Jade, who falls for handsome  ‘Loverboy’ Raz. Jade ends up trafficked and entrapped in a town far from home.

Spin-offs from the film are to include an  interactive ‘Free Jade’ campaign, interactive drama, observational and  investigative documentary, animation, photography, music, poetry, sound  postcards, aural graffiti and written testimony based around the issues  relevant to teenage girls such as love, sex, betrayal, friendship, trust and  self esteem.

Sheffield based agency Quba has led the crucial  social media element of the campaign. Established in 2000 by a team that  included the co-founders of Freeserve, Quba’s fresh, straightforward approach,  knowledge of consumer behaviour on the Internet and creative solutions have won  many satisfied clients.

Find out more about the campaign at Quba’s blog  - http://blog.quba.co.uk/2010/01/quba-launches-cross-platform-campaign-to-raise-awareness-of-sex-trafficking/

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