On Superbowl Sunday- Behind the Scenes

This Sunday is one of the most important marketing days of the year.  In a few hours, crowds will swarm the Super Dome donning their Ravens or 49ers paraphernalia, advertisers will swarm our … well, everything… with their best laugh evoking or tear jerking attempts at persuasion, and we will swarm around our favorite brands of fried chicken, buffalo wings, and chips. More than 111 million people will be glued to their televisions.

But none of these reasons are why this Sunday is so important. TheSuperbowl is important because along with a myriad of products and services being marketed and sold, more than 10,000 children, teens, and women will be also be marketed and sold as sex slaves.

The Superbowl is one of the largest sex trafficking events in the U.S.  Approximately 12.3 million adults and children are forced into prostitution and trafficked around the world.  

In this industry, the pimp owns you. Sometimes the perception is that prostitutes are dirty, or that they chose that lifestyle, or it’s just harmless entertainment.  The truth is, those children and women who are being prostituted were most likely sold into that industry and cannot escape without facing severe abuse or death.  The average age someone is trafficked is 13 years old.

These young boys and girls are often abducted by someone who entices them with promises of love, or fulfillment of their future dreams.  The pimp then claims ownership on their lives and bodies by forcing them to work for them by selling their bodies to provide income. Pimps also will often physically brand the individuals being prostituted- whether by burning them, tattooing them, or carving into them.

When you brand a product or service, you control it- it is entirely under your ownership.  It no longer has its own identity, but rather the identity that you label and enforce on it.  No human should ever be owned or branded by another individual.

To see a number like 10,000 or 12.3 million can be daunting.  It is tempting to feel overwhelmed, and to look away from the problem at hand. But what if instead of looking at 10,000 objects being marketed this weekend, we focused on the 1 thirteen year old girl whose first run-in with flattery has led her to a life of sexual, verbal and physical abuse. Or the 1fourteen year old boy who just began the process of finding his identity and his place in this world, only to be told that he no longer had one. What if instead of rescuing a number, we rescued a name? That is something worth cheering for.

Mood: Capable

To learn more about this problem or to learn how you can get involved, you can visit the resources below.

• Hear first-hand from former high class call girl, Annie Lobert, her story of how she survived and how she is now setting others free.

• Watch and share the video "The Candy Shop" (A Fairy Tale About the Sexual Exploitation of Children). This is a visualization of the child trafficking industry and how they are profiting. It is estimated that sex trafficking brings in $32 billion a year worldwide, and $9.5 billion each year in the U.S. alone.  

• Support the following organizations:

• StopTraffik  A movement of individuals, communities and organization fighting to prevent the sale of people, protect the trafficked and prosecute the traffickers.

• A21 Campaign  This organization advocates for individuals who have been trafficked and seeks to abolish the human trafficking industry.

• Compassion You can sponsor a young boy or girl for a small monthly fee to help keep children from being trafficked or from becoming pimps.