Human Trafficking Awareness
EightOne Creative worked with St. Louis County officials and National Council of Jewish Women - St. Louis to create a print campaign to help raise awareness of human trafficking, which unfortunately, is prevalent in St. Louis City and County. The project was spearheaded by NCJWSTL as part of their Advocacy in Action program. The three goals of the campaign were to: educate the public, raise awareness among the public and provide helpful contact information to anyone that might be aware of or involved in a possible trafficking situation. Jumbo posters were placed in and around St. Louis City/County, including St. Louis Lambert International Airport and Gateway Transportation Center/Amtrak Station.
The placement of the poster itself helps create awareness, however, the design lends to that by grabbing attention through the use of bright yellow, a color commonly associated with "caution", against a black background. To help communicate to a wider audience, the main copy is displayed in both English and Spanish.
The images were carefully chosen to show diversity, provide a backstory to each individual shown and be non-sensational. The image selection was crucial to the design to help educate the public that there are many different types of people who are victims of human trafficking, not just the media stereotype of young girls kidnapped from outside their home by strangers and forced into sex slavery. Although sex slavery is one of the most common forms of human trafficking, there are many other types of situations that do not get as much attention and it is a common misconception that victims of human trafficking are kept in isolation. Many victims are free to move around and go about a "normal" life and many victims often work in restaurants, bars, construction sites and retail stores.
