Compare and contrast: Dove wants us to feel good about ourselves, and the Body Shop wants us to help fight sex trafficking.
The Body Shop has partnered with the Helen Bamber Foundation to spread the word about the reality of sex trafficking. There have been a series of interactive installations on the topic in London, and the web video is the latest addition to the campaign. Starring Emma Thompson, the video tells a first person account of sex traffic from the visual viewpoint of the john (watch the video here - warning: it’s graphic and disturbing).
The Helen Bamber Foundation is a human rights group based in the U.K., working on both the legal and psychological fronts of sex traffic. The Body Shop is helping raise money, disseminate the video, and get people to sign petitions to delay the deportation of women arrested when sex traffic rings break up.
I’m curious what other people think of this.
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two comments
Oh geez. That video is really really upsetting.
It's always my instinct to be skeptical of corporations doing "good work" - like, for example, the Product Red campaign, which really just seems to be a good way for participating corporations to make themselves look good, while still making money and actually not really doing much to help (I know, I know, cynical...). I think the goal of any corporate sponsorship is self-aggrandising - the real question is, are they making themselves look good at the same time as they are genuinely supporting a really important cause? And if they're actually being helpful, does it matter that they're just doing it for their own purposes, if in the end it does good work?
I'd never heard of the Helen Bamber Foundation before, but it seems just from the website like a really amazing organisation. Not that we at Shameless endorse any corporations, ahem, but I'm actually truly impressed that the Body Shop is supporting this. Sex trafficking and sex workers rights are so brutally maligned in every facet of our society and it's amazing that the Body Shop is putting money into a cause that is so taboo, hidden and in desperate need of help.
What do you think Megan?
Posted by Thea
October 31, 2007, 11:07 AM
Thea, I really agree with you on the "attractive" vs. "unattractive" causes front. As we come to the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (as I'm sure everyone is aware, because those pink ribbons are everywhere,) it might be interesting to mention that this month is also Domestic Violence Awareness month - as people are likely unaware. In fact, October has been domestic violence awareness month for 20 years, but it's been eclipsed by pink, pink, everywhere. While I think breast cancer awareness is important, it's interesting to analyze why everyone cares so much and there's so many things to buy that support the cause.
I was reading a back issue of Herizons recently and there was an interesting letter to the editor by a woman who recovered from colon cancer - she said one of her major struggles was how no one wanted to talk about colon cancer as a disease to fight, despite it being up there in the leading cancers that women face. She felt if she had breast cancer, she would have had more support.
I agree that it's noble that the Body Shop is putting it's name to this campagn, supporting a cause that's not exactly "trendy."
Posted by Stacey May
October 31, 2007, 11:23 AM
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