CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A new human trafficking awareness campaign pairs local government with local artists, taking a softer approach to reaching those who may be in need of help.
“I worked with a survivor to come up with ideas of what would be something that somebody in that situation would need to see, want to see,” said Mural Movement artist Hailey Losselyong.
This visual campaign, designed in collaboration with Losselyong, uses a soft and hopeful image of a man and woman surrounded by butterflies and moonflowers to encourage the person to ask, “Do I feel safe?”
“I don't think having just, ‘Are you being trafficked?’ is going to hit as many people because a lot of people don't actually know that they're being trafficked,” Losselyong said.
In addition, there’s a QR code embedded into the campaign's image that links to online resources. They aim at helping people identify human trafficking and domestic situations and then provide direction for the next steps they can take.
Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force Coordinator Anna Pastor told WBBM that the entire field of reaching and providing assistance to survivors is beginning to shift away from preconceived red flag indicators.
“A very common misconception is that kidnapping myth; that it's folks in the white vans, stranger danger,” Pastor said. For both labor trafficking and sex trafficking, there's usually an element of a relationship and that grooming.”
These partners in government, the arts community and survivors themselves, said that if your answer is no to the simple question, “Do I feel safe?”, it might be time to seek help, ultimately protecting survivors of human trafficking.
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