The Body Shop stopped traffic in Toronto yesterday morning to help raise awareness of its global Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People campaign, now in its second year.
“Protesters” carried picket signs with anti-trafficking messages and invited consumers to sign a petition encouraging the Canadian government to implement strict anti-trafficking legislation, and dedicate more resources to help victims of trafficking.
“It’s really about visibility and reaching out in high-traffic areas to get signatures from people who maybe aren’t in our stores, who are passing by,” Shelley Simmons, director of brand communications and values, The Body Shop. “It’s a creative and accessible way to introduce people to the issue.”
The cosmetic franchise launched the anti-sex-trafficking campaign in 2009 to raise awareness of the issue before taking it one step further this year and asking consumers to sign a petition. It was important consumers understood the issue first, said Simmons.
“It’s a challenging issue,” she said. “It’s something most people think only might happen somewhere else in the world… Not on their doorstep.”
Wall projections encouraged passersby to sign an online petition at TheBodyShop.com. Over 771,000 signatures have been collected on the Canadian section of the site so far.
The projections present various statistics: human trafficking is the third largest criminal industry in the world and 1.2 million children and young people are trafficked every year for sexual exploitation and cheap labour.
Information pamphlets are available in-store, and a running tally of signatures collected at each location will be kept on a board behind the counter.
“We want to make sure that people understand we can all make a difference,” said Simmons.
The Body Shop is collecting signatures in 65 countries including Canada, and will present them to the United Nations, said Simmons, who hopes to reach one million signatures across North America alone by year’s end.
The retailer will also donate partial proceeds from sales of its Bag For Life canvas tote, gift-wrapping and the Soft Hands Kind Hearts hand cream–created last year specifically for the global campaign–to Benefit Beyond Borders Canada and the Somaly Mam Foundation. Over the last year, The Body Shop’s North American stores have helped raise $1.5 million for the charities.
The Body Shop Canada promoted the events with media alerts handled by Toronto PR firm Strategic Objectives.
