Interactive ad: Human Trafficking: Hotel de Jeunesse

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Top 6: August 9th 2017

Human trafficking happens closer than most Canadians realize. But the signs can be hard to recognize. We know that when people are travelling, they naturally find themselves in sex trafficking hot spots. So we created a presence in travel-related platforms and disrupted the experience to get people’s attention, and give them the info they need to act as our eyes and ears.

Knowing that hotels are one of the top hot spots where sex trafficking occurs, the campaign by Tribal Worldwide Toronto uses search engine marketing to target people searching for hotel accommodation in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to serve them digital banner ads for Hotel De Jeunesse, a fake hotel found online. At first glance, the site appears like an innocuous hotel site, with nothing out of the ordinary; but upon further inspection it becomes clear to users that it’s not a real hotel; but rather a powerful tool to educate the public on the disturbing displays of human trafficking.

“We wanted to reach people right before they entered into a known human trafficking hotspot so they could help us fight this problem. By creating a presence on travel-related platforms and in those micro-moments, we are able to unpack what signs to look for,” says Marketa Krivy, executive creative director, Tribal Worldwide Toronto. “The signs of human trafficking hide in plain sight and can be easily dismissed if you don’t know what to look for. But once you do, it becomes much harder to ignore.”