Clear Channel Outdoor Helps Fight Human Trafficking In Phoenix
The McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University, CEASE Phoenix Metro, the City of Phoenix, and Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc., together announced the early success of the ‘Not Worth It’ campaign that is fighting human trafficking throughout Phoenix.
‘Not Worth I’ is an ongoing effort to combat human trafficking in Phoenix through educating residents about the ills of commercial sex while shifting the moral compass of trafficking to the buyer, and away from the victim. The campaign communicates that commercial sex fuels the human trafficking problem and is harmful to both buyer and seller.
Aimed at sex buyers, the message, ‘Buy Sex, Lose Everything’, appears on five static and 52 electronic billboards in English notworthit.org and Spanish novalelapena.org) donated by Clear Channel Outdoor Americas Phoenix. This campaign will run for 12 months generating tens of millions of impressions. The campaign also appears on the City’s transit shelters.
The early success figures come from websites. Early analytics from them point to the impact of the campaign’s message. Since launching July 2015, more than 5000 unique visitors have viewed the English language website and more than 700 unique visitors have viewed the Spanish language website. The majority of website visits have come from a mobile device, a key measure of success, as mobile activity is believed to reflect real-time reporting of sex trafficking.
Website visitors come face-to-face with commercial sex consequences such as losing a job, losing a reputation, divorce, sexually transmitted infections, hefty fines, car towing and possible jail time or sex offender registry. The goal is for commercial sex buyers to realize that engaging in this illegal behavior is simply ‘not worth it’.
Experts believe that purchasing human beings for sex is fueling the market that traffickers and pimps supply with victims. As long as demand remains, the sexual exploitation of society’s most vulnerable children, women and even men will continue. Supporting victims and survivors and punishing pimps remains mission critical, but the endless supply of victims won’t cease until the demand for illegal commercial sex is no longer worth the risk.
“If there were no buyers, there would be no business,” said Angie Bayless, coordinator, CEASE Phoenix Metro. “The billboard campaign builds upon public awareness that sex trafficking is a major problem in Arizona, and throughout the U.S., 365 days a year.”
“Since joining the CEASE initiative, Phoenix police and other local police agencies have arrested over 185 sex buyers” says Sgt. Clay Sutherlin, supervisor of the local FBI human trafficking task force and Sergeant of the Phoenix Police Department Vice Enforcement Unit. “We are constantly running operations focusing on buyers. We have also started communicating directly with these individuals to educate them that commercial sex causes sex trafficking and to warn them of the consequences. Consequences include steep fines, jail time and vehicle impoundment.”
“Clear Channel Outdoor America’s generous donation of electronic and traditional billboards and the City of Phoenix’s willingness to post this message in bus stops, positions Phoenix as a leader in the effort to end sex trafficking by targeting the buyer,” says Cindy McCain, co-chair, Governor’s Council on Human Trafficking. “It’s time we focus attention on the fact that without demand, there would be no need for supply. Reducing demand for commercial sex in our state is a critical step in addressing human trafficking.”
“Billboards and other outdoor media are ideal for targeting specific audiences and for reaching people at scale, and we welcome our responsibility to use this power to help the people of Arizona and those in other cities in which we operate,” said Diane Veres, CCOA-Arizona President. “Everyday, Clear Channel Outdoor Americas works with law enforcement, government agencies and nonprofits on a number of public safety and community building initiatives; no issue we touch is more detestable than modern slavery.”
“We estimate that one in 20 adult men in our city search online sex ads, looking to pay for sex,” said Dr. Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, a member of the CEASE Phoenix Metro team and researcher at the ASU Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research. “That translates to nearly 80,000 men who can benefit from the campaign messaging.”
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