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

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/