Look Beneath the Surface: Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking

 

An 11-year-old girl is recruited to work as a waitress at a restaurant in the United States so she can help her desperately poor family in Mexico. The promised job never materializes. Instead, she finds herself imprisoned in a trailer that serves as a portable brothel. This is human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the agency responsible for helping these victims of human trafficking become eligible to receive benefits and services so they can recover from their ordeals and rebuild their lives. However, before trafficking victims can be assisted, they must be found. When Ketchum began working on the Trafficking Public Awareness Campaign in 2003, few people knew what human trafficking was, let alone how to identify it, and help stop it. Ketchum’s mission for this program was two-fold: 

Ketchum conducted a literature review and interviewed victims and trafficking experts to measure the scope of the problem, understand the circumstances under which victims are exploited, develop campaign messages, and identify key communications channels for reaching target audiences.

 

Based on this research, Ketchum designed a campaign to bring media attention to the victims trafficked within the United States and a campaign to reach out to intermediaries – law enforcement, social service and health providers, victim advocates, child welfare workers, faith-based and ethnic communities – who may encounter victims, but may not realize it.   

 

The campaign’s identity – Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking – reflects the victim-centered approach to combating human trafficking. The campaign theme – “Look Beneath the Surface” – underscores the need for intermediaries and the American public to “look beneath the surface” of the people they interact with each day to recognize potential trafficking victims. The campaign theme and logo were incorporated into the development of a variety of messages and materials. They included posters, brochures, and radio and television public service announcements (produced in partnership with the United Nations and the Ricky Martin Foundation), press kits, English and Spanish training videos, fact sheets, and a Web site (www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking). Ketchum produced many of the campaign materials in eight different languages to reach key ethnic populations. All campaign materials included the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline, 1-888-3737-888. 

 

Key to the success of the education and outreach efforts has been the development of grassroots coalitions in areas of the country with high incidences of human trafficking. Over the last four years, Ketchum, with its partner Capital City Partners, has formed 21 Rescue & Restore coalitions in 19 cities and two states.

 

Ketchum has also reached key individuals on the frontlines of identifying victims of trafficking by forming local and national partnerships with intermediary organizations, securing speaking opportunities at workshops and exhibits at their major conferences. This year, Ketchum secured a public service partnership with outdoor advertising companies to place public service spots on human trafficking in 18 cities across the United States. These billboards are an important way to raise awareness about human trafficking since victims are often transported along major highways where billboards are prevalent and may be seen by motorists at rest stops. 

 

The Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking campaign has refocused awareness of trafficking from a solely international problem to a domestic one. Media outreach efforts have secured nearly 200 million media impressions to date in such outlets as the Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, Arizona Republic, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Tampa Tribune, Newsday, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Newark Star-Ledger, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, Copley News Service, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Las Vegas Review-Journal, St. Louis Post Dispatch, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Sacramento Bee, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Raleigh News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and Columbus Dispatch. Ketchum has secured extensive media coverage in each coalition launch location on television network affiliates (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox), as well as local placements on Univision and Telemundo. Key national placements include ABC World News Tonight Online, Good Morning America Online, the CBS Early Show and the CBS Evening News, National Public Radio, CNN and Nightline. 

 

Trade publication placements in key intermediary outlets include the Child Welfare League of America, Emergency Medical Services, Migrant Clinicians Network, National Association of Social Workers, Texas Chapter, International Association of Forensic Nurses, National Safe Place, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

 

Since the public launch of the campaign in April 2004, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center has received more than 4,000 calls from intermediaries, possible victims and the public. Many of these calls have resulted in referrals to local HHS grantees that provide services to trafficking victims as well as tips to law enforcement about possible trafficking cases. Billboard space donations included 115 billboards/bulletins, 40 transit shelters and 13 digital billboards, reaching an estimated 2.2 million viewers daily. 

 

The Ricky Martin Foundation PSAs, featuring celebrity singer Ricky Martin, aired more than 1,600 times in nine of the nation’s top-10 media markets and in 48 of the top 50 media markets, reaching approximately 66 million radio listeners and 750,000 television viewers. PSAs distributed in conjunction with the United Nations aired more than 260 times on 43 stations in 25 cities across the country, reaching approximately 5.2 million television viewers.

 

In addition to establishing formal Rescue & Restore coalitions in 19 cities and two states, the Ketchum team also enlisted more than 1,000 community organizations to become Rescue & Restore coalition partners and established formal partnerships with more than 75 national organizations. Key national partners include the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Migrant Clinicians Network, International Association of Forensic Nurses, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Service Employees International Union and National Council of La Raza. Outreach with intermediary groups resulted in securing more than 150 speaking engagements and training sessions reaching health and social service providers, law enforcement, faith-based and ethnic communities, victim advocacy groups and child welfare advocates. HHS also exhibited at key national organization conferences including the National Sheriff’s Association, the American Academy of Emergency Physicians, Emergency Nurses Association, International Association of Forensic Nurses, Child Welfare League of America, National Association of Community Health Centers, National Council of La Raza and North American Association of Christians in Social Work.