Dear John

These ads for Prajwala, an Indian anti-trafficking organization “which believes in preventing women and children from entering prostitution”, hit the viewer with harsh headlines and even more brutal art direction. But they pack their biggest punch in the campaign tagline: “A prostitute only becomes one when you hire her”.

In 2007, India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development reported the presence of 2.8 million sex workers in India, with 35.47 percent of them entering the trade before the age of 18 years. But according to Wikipedia, Human Rights Watch puts the “real” number at more like 15 million.

These ads, with their focus on exploitation, slavery, disease and violence, put the blame squarely on the consumer of the sex trade. The idea that a prostitute is “made” by being bought, not by being for sale, is a fairly polarizing one to be sure. And it may not have an effect on the men who actually pay for sex. But perhaps this campain is more about getting everyone else talking about a social problem that is all too frequently hidden away.

Two more ads, and credits, after the jump.

Creative Director: Jeevan Sebastian
Art Director: Deepak P.
Copywriter: Shikha Gupta

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Comments

What’s a ‘prostitite’?

And I doubt that all those who hire a prostitute beat her up ...

Prostitution is a problem though. In order to lessen it, it should become legal and regularized.

Thanks for pointing out the egregious typo, Markus. My eyes must be failing me.

It should become legal and regularized???

Amanda,

Yes, that way the prostitutes will get protection, health benefits, social security, etc.

It’s not good enough just to pretend that there won’t be a market for sex! It always has been and always will be. So why not regularize the whole thing? The pimps will loose power and the state can even raise taxes!

Markus & Amanda:

I don’t necessarily disagree with either of you, although I still have my concerns with legalized sex trade. Here in Canada, strippers and erotic masseuses are (at least as advertised) not doing anything illegal. However, there are still human trafficking issues surrounding these trades.

The Indian campaign in this post has issues beyond proofreading. As I’ve referenced here before, shaming is not proven to be an effective social marketing approach. One would expect this is especially true when we are dealing with the clients of street prostitutes.

This is a shock campaign, pure and simple. I think its only realistic objective is to incite discussion.

It’s time that we deal with prostitution where it’s happening, and the transaction that starts when a john decides he’d like to buy sex.

When we punish prostitutes, we’re not dealing with the root of the problem, which is the racist, sexist society that spawns the abuse of sex workers.

Mazarine
http://wildwomanfundraising.com