Shoppable Girls Campaign: Backgrounder

Quick facts on sex trafficking

• No one chooses to be trafficked. Sex trafficking is when a person, through means of luring, coercion, trickery or manipulation is forced to sell their body to make money for other people.
• 93% of trafficking victims in Canada are citizens,¹ and victims are recruited as young as 13.²
• 90% of victims are female, however, young men are also targeted victims too.³
• Victims are often recruited by someone they know: males they consider to be their boyfriends or through friends, often victims themselves.⁴
• Sex trafficking can happen to any young person, regardless of age, culture, income, orientation, gender or neighbourhood.⁵
• Sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry—more lucrative than illegal guns or drugs smuggling, with traffickers making over $280,000 per year by controlling one victim.⁶

Backgrounder

Part of our journey to launching Shoppable Girls has been conducting research and consultations with stakeholders along the way.

Prevention study with teen girls and survivors

In 2018, we conducted a national study with Ipsos Public Affairs to inform this awareness campaign and better understand the attitudes and behaviours that put teen girls at greater risk for sex trafficking. The study included both an online survey of 500 girls aged 12 to 16, and interviews with survivors of sex trafficking, their parents and anti-trafficking advocates.

The study indicates parents can play a pivotal role in educating their daughters about online luring and sex trafficking at a young age before their risk factors increase.

• Study findings reveal that only 38 per cent of teenage girls say their parents are “very aware” of their social media activity.
• It also shows that as girls age and their social media usage increases, they become even less likely to talk to their parents about the challenges they are experiencing, both on and offline, thereby increasing their risk factors.
• While girls indicate some familiarity with the term “sex trafficking”, few are very familiar with it and there is a significant gap between 12 and 16-year-olds.
• The good news is that parents who engage in open dialogue with their daughters at a younger age help build trust and impart a strong perception of risk and knowledge of what to do in challenging situations.
• The findings from sex trafficking survivors and advocates also demonstrate the importance of education around sex trafficking and communication with parents. Many survivors lacked a big picture understanding of what was happening to them and the right vocabulary to describe it to others. These factors, combined with not knowing where to turn to for help, were key barriers to leaving their situations.

For more information on this study, visit: https://covenanthousetoronto.ca/traffick-stop/ipsos-research/

Focus groups with teen girls and moms

Once the initial Shoppable Girls campaign concept was developed, we conducted focus groups with teen girls and moms of teen girls to gauge reactions, interest and engagement.

• The teen girls found the campaign eye-opening and relatable. They liked that it brings awareness to the issue and most said they would share with friends as they want to prevent it from happening to themselves and their friends.
• The girls emphasized the importance of creating social media ads that are interesting and compelling enough to grab their attention and make them want to click through to learn more. These insights helped shape the creative direction of the campaign.
• Moms in the focus group said the campaign is a ‘wake-up’ call for themselves and their daughters. They said they can be naïve when it comes to their daughters’ behaviours and that they need to pay attention to potential signs so that they can protect their daughters.
• The mothers consulted felt this campaign can be used as a tool for the discussion, particularly for those who may feel uncomfortable approaching their kids with the subject matter.

Consultations with survivors

To further develop the campaign elements, we consulted with survivors of sex trafficking. They felt the campaign was ‘timely’, ‘creative’ and ‘will catch people’s attention’. They felt that the models will help teens connect with the campaign and that sex trafficking can happen to anyone. They mentioned how important it is for parents to realize this can happen to their daughters and that their daughters are not too young to hear about this issue.

Research on the barriers to exiting sex trafficking

To date, very little work has been done to document the process victims must undergo to successfully escape from sex trafficking or to determine their specific needs while attempting to do so.

Covenant House Toronto, in collaboration with co-researcher Sue McIntyre, has completed one of the largest research studies on sex trafficking produced in Canada to-date. The research featured interviews with 200 stakeholders (including 50 survivors) from eight cities: St. John’s, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

This study provides a comprehensive review of the process that victims must embark on when exiting situations of sex trafficking, highlighting their multiple needs and the barriers they face.

The impetus behind this study was to better understand the complex reasons why victims of sex trafficking remain trapped within the sex industry and why so many are likely to return after exiting.

How the study informed the Shoppable Girls campaign

The findings from this study were critical to our Shoppable Girls campaign as we learned just how hard it is for victims to exit/escape a trafficking situation after becoming entrenched, which speaks to the importance of awareness and prevention.

In addition to building awareness, encouraging conversation and helping to prevent sex trafficking in Canada, we are attempting to create an understanding of the complex reasons why victims of sex trafficking remain trapped within the sex industry and why so many are likely to return after exiting.

Why don’t victims just leave?

We feel that it is very important for people to understand that no one chooses to be trafficked and that there are interconnected barriers that impact a victim’s ability to exit sex trafficking, which include, among others:

• Total reliance on the trafficker
• Previous and current trauma
• Fear
• Stigma and discrimination
• Hopelessness
• Lack of support
• Lack of trust
• Not seeing themselves as a victim
• Isolation

There are many other barriers to exiting. To access the full report, visit: https://covenanthousetoronto.ca/the-barriers-to-exiting-sex-trafficking/