Talita is an NGO that helps women in escaping the sex trade and reclaim their lives on their own terms. Unfortunately, all too often women are unfairly blamed for their involvement in prostitution when, in reality, the root of the problem lies in negative societal attitudes toward women. Talita seeks to empower women and challenge these harmful beliefs, working towards meaningful and lasting change in the lives of those impacted by prostitution. Yet one in ten Swedish men have paid for sex, and behind every case is an excuse. As long as these men hide behind excuses, reform is impossible.

With this campaign, the purpose was to take one small step towards changing the current attitudes that normalize purchasing sexual services. As a small NGO, Talita is fully dependent on pro bono collaborations related to marketing activities, and the total budget for the campaign was €2000.

In Sweden, instead of saying 'playing the victim card,' we say 'wearing the victim cardigan.' We applied this well-known idiom to uncover an underlying reason behind the exploitation of women in the sex trade - men.

We transformed the most common excuses that men give when caught soliciting sex into a limited collection of real 'victim cardigans.' These cardigans reveal the justifications these men use, as well as picturing the exposure to violence, drugs, and poverty that women in the sex industry face - direct consequences of these excuses. Our collaboration with the fashion brand HOPE Sthlm helped launch the collection and exposed the victim cardigans that the men hide behind. By doing so, we aimed to put the responsibility back where it belongs.

A new audience in focus:

Our previous campaigns for Talita illustrated a recurring pattern: it was mostly women who showed interest in, supported, and got engaged in our campaigns. And even though all types of support, especially donations, is crucial to enable Talita’s rehabilitation operations we know that almost all sex purchases are made by men. So, to achieve a real attitudinal long-term change, we needed to target men more actively.   

A changed perspective:

Coming from several successful campaigns where we’ve focused on the perspective of women stuck in the sex industry, we decided to change the angle from which we approached the issue. Because fundamentally there is a very simple solution to the problem that women are abused within the sex trade – that men stop buying sex. This equally absurd and obvious truth would get the men’s attention, and thus conveying it became the core creative task.

We wanted to make a previously invisible garment visible. The design of the cardigans features the most common excuses men use when caught buying sexual services. The motifs on the sweaters are carefully selected to represent the attitudes of sex buyers and the consequences it has on women in the sex industry, including poverty, violence, and drug abuse.

The cardigans were displayed in HOPE's storefront window during the bustling holiday shopping season on the streets of Stockholm. Fashion magazines such as Vogue picked up the campaign and we made native ads in fashion magazines online. As part of the integrated effort, one cardigan was auctioned off for charity to support Talita’s outreach and rehabilitating work. By joining the two worlds of fashion and anti-prostitution charity work, we were able to make an invisible garment visible and expose the attitudes of sex buyers to the public.

The campaign reached 32% of the Swedish population and created impressive engagement. Among those that observed the campaign:

25% had talked to others about the issue

58% got an increased will to support a positive change

60% got an increased interest in the issue of purchasing sexual services

Most importantly, the campaign changed the general public’s views on purchasing sexual services as a societal issue – especially among men. The share of the population who see sex trade as a vast social issue increased from 60% to 63%, and from 53% to 62% among men. With basically no budget, we managed to make 350 000 Swedish men change their views on sex purchases. That’s a social impact you can’t neglect.

In addition to creating an attitudinal change on a national level, the campaign increased donations by 177%. An important contribution to allow Talita to help more women reclaim their lives.