People know human trafficking is a reality but they don't really know how it happens and no one really thinks it can happen to them. People also assume that underprivileged or uneducated people are the only ones who become victims. We wanted to show people that it can happen to anyone at any time, no matter who you are or where you come from. We found a statistic that 21 million people have been lured into human trafficking through false job promises so we decided to do what human traffickers do – we created a fake brand and offered people a job.

We created a fictitious energy drink called Whipped. We dressed our job stand in Whipped branding, printed promotional flyers and even created an entire back-story for the brand. Promoters, dressed in Whipped t-shirts, then encouraged people to sign up to become brand ambassadors for this new product. They were told that if they got chosen, they would be flown to the top 10 party destinations around the world. The job included a personal stylist, chauffeur and a R50 000 monthly salary. And all they had to do was be seen having a good time with a bottle of Whipped in their hands. This same message was communicated on our online job postings. Once people signed up, they received a text/email that informed them that they had just become one of the 21 million people to be lured into human trafficking through false job promises.

Thousands of people signed up for the fake job and were shocked at how easily they fell for this, showing how easy it is for anyone to become a victim. And hopefully, if they are faced with a similar situation in the future, they’ll think twice before falling for it since they’ve already fallen for it once before. If we manage to prevent one person from becoming a victim, we have done a better job than we could have hoped for. A journalist even signed up for the job and after finding out it was all fake, wrote an article about it. This article was published in a national newspaper and was shared numerous times online. The activation was also mentioned on nationwide TV and radio. We generated over R1 million in free PR, helping us reach more than just the thousands of people who were lured by the job.