Challenging the Status Quo: What We Learned from a National Anti-Trafficking Campaign
Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women Canada
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) Canada recently implemented a national communications campaign—There’s a Better Way. The campaign combined social media ads with educational materials to encourage the public to critically reflect on the effectiveness of popular anti-human trafficking approaches. We highlighted anti-trafficking awareness campaigns and ‘spot-the-signs’/red flag trafficking indicators, alongside alternatives to better serve victims and survivors.
The campaign provided key insights into the state of anti-trafficking efforts in Canada. Here are some key takeaways from the campaign:
Resistance to change
Many comments on the social media ads expressed a deeply entrenched resistance to any criticism of anti-trafficking work. Many people believe that any awareness is good awareness, despite evidence that popular awareness-raising approaches are ineffective at preventing trafficking or producing lasting change for survivors.
Many people reacted negatively to the suggestion that the type of awareness matters, too. Some questioned why we would encourage people to pause and think before sharing a red flag campaign, or called us ‘pro-trafficking’ for suggesting that awareness needs to be rethought. Others jumped to the conclusion that we were calling for the elimination of anti-trafficking awareness campaigns altogether, rather than inviting critical reflection on their content.
But this is precisely the problem GAATW Canada aimed to highlight with this campaign—the uncritical acceptance of pervasive spot-the-signs “awareness” and its ineffectiveness in combatting human trafficking.
As overly broad and vague anti-trafficking awareness indicators seep into more and more aspects of everyday life—such as dining alone or ordering takeout—it is evident that awareness campaigns have become a performative, feel-good activity that ticks a box, and is an end unto itself. People perceive these campaigns as the solution, and therefore do not engage beyond wearing a lapel pin or joining a walk-a-thon.
Some of the actions these campaigns encourage may even have dire consequences for the people they purport to help, such as causing a marginalized person to have an unwanted interaction with police.
Why has the public become so accepting of the appearance of action? What meaningful work is actually being done to address or reduce trafficking? The ever-expanding scope of ‘red flags’ and recycled awareness campaigns coupled with the seeming refusal of law enforcement and most major anti-trafficking agencies to meaningfully tackle underlying risk begs the question: Are we actually trying to respond effectively to trafficking, or are we exploiting people’s exploitation to pat ourselves on the back for being ‘aware’?
Personal stories
On the other hand, many survivors agreed with our premise and shared stories of unmet needs and failed promises of support from police and large, well-funded organizations. Many survivors shared that appeals for help were ignored, met with inadequate or unhelpful responses, or that
support simply tapered off. Many of these people messaged GAATW Canada privately to ask about support that could fill the gaps left by law enforcement and rescue-style services and programming. These messages support our point that current approaches to addressing trafficking are not working for victims and survivors, and yet our critics remain more committed to upholding old and familiar ways of doing things than to collectively stepping back to see what can be improved.
Wanting to help
Most encouragingly, many more people expressed genuine interest in learning and a desire to help more effectively. We directed them to GAATW Canada’s website, educational resources, and links to community organizations doing impactful frontline work across the country. This campaign generated substantial engagement from folks interested in exploring different perspectives. These conversations and new connections are more valuable to us than marketing metrics, such as clicks and reposts, because they demonstrate conscious desire to understand and make positive change, rather than simply passive or performative (ineffective) participation. While the status quo is putting up a strong fight, it seems people are receptive and open to hearing new information and considering alternatives to effectively combat human trafficking.
Where we go from here
Anti-trafficking receives significant attention and funding, yet too often those resources are directed toward attention-grabbing campaigns, while more effective, community-based solutions remain undervalued, underfunded, and poorly understood. At the heart of our campaign was the understanding that, for most people, concern about human trafficking is already present. We want to channel that concern toward something more informed, useful, and collective. By directing well-meaning people away from the echo-chamber of ineffective solutions, we hope they will embrace a greater diversity of voices and perspectives that better center victims and survivors.
By their own admission, law enforcement, government, and large anti-trafficking agencies lament human trafficking as an ever-worsening problem. Having tried it their way for years, it’s time we took a different approach. There is a better way, and it’s happening now.
If you are looking for something more practical
If you are doing this work and looking for space to think through how this shows up in real time, there are opportunities to explore this further through small group training sessions focused on day to day case management practice.
These sessions are grounded in real scenarios, reflection, and practical application.
You can find upcoming dates and details on the training page
