This is a response to the above debate.
In any conversation about ‘raising awareness’ it is necessary to make use of quotation marks, since we don’t have evidence that these campaigns raise awareness to any degree necessary to reduce human trafficking. In addition to questions about effectiveness, we have even more troubling questions about the degree to which campaigns are actually counterproductive.
As I have written elsewhere, it is now well established in marketing sciences that after seeing a ‘short spot’ on human trafficking – such as a public service advertisement or poster – a majority of people can feel subconsciously satisfied with what they have contributed to the cause, with no further action undertaken on their part. Awareness campaigns can therefore make people feel good without asking much if anything in terms of a real contribution.
