Mission Talita is an alternative gaming experience for GTA 5 developed to challenge societal views on prostitution and sex trafficking by flipping the narrative and reversing the conventional power dynamic in a game where exploiting and killing prostitutes is standard procedure. By hijacking the traditional gameplay and using real-life stories from victims of prostitution and sex trafficking to raise awareness, Mission Talita does not only preserve the entertainment value of the game, but elevates it by adding depth and purpose to the gameplay. By doing so, Mission Talita turned a conventional gaming platform into a powerful tool for social change.

Talita is an NGO founded in Sweden, dedicated to reducing the suffering associated with prostitution and sex trafficking around the world. The organization views the issue of sex trafficking and prostitution as two deeply interlinked issues and an expression of male violence against women. This view aligns well with the dominant cultural perspective in Sweden, where prostitution is seen as a situation of exploitation. Recognizing this cultural view is important as it shapes this case and underlying idea, whether one agrees with the perspective or not.

Every day, millions of women and children are exploited in the global sex trade. Talita, a small NGO, is dedicated to aiding these victims in breaking free from prostitution and trafficking while also challenging the societal attitudes that fuel the demand for sexual services.

To change this, we must reach the audience most likely to include future sex buyers: young men. By raising awareness among them, we strive to achieve long-term behavioral change.

The problem? The dark and harsh realities of sex trade victims seem to escape the daily reflections of young men. This is not so surprising since the prevailing narrative surrounding prostitution is often one-sided and glamorized in pornography and popular culture.

Talita recognized the need to challenge this narrative in a manner that would resonate with, rather than alienate, our young male audience.

There’s a place where young men are already buying sex. Every day.

What started out as a gangster game has now evolved into a world where people - particularly young men - hang out, take on different roles, and shape the storyline. However, it’s also a place where young men buy virtual sex, every day. And as one of the world’s most streamed and played video games, GTA 5 is likely a context where many young men are first introduced to prostitution.

In the game, the non-playable prostitute characters’ fate is set. They can only be exploited, abused, or murdered. But instead of trying to stop or critique this game feature from the sideline, we saw an opportunity to use it as a context to highlight the harsh realities of sex trade victims in a way that would reach and impact our target audience.

In Los Santos, the fictional city of GTA 5, prostitutes are being exploited, beaten, robbed, and killed with no rescue in sight. Until now.

Mission Talita is an alternative gaming experience for GTA 5 based on true stories from victims of prostitution and trafficking. By hijacking the most played game in the world and flipping the narrative, we gave the women a new storyline while giving players insight into the severity of the situations that millions of women face every day, and what Talita does to help them.

The free downloadable extension for GTA 5 includes four new action-filled missions based on the stories of Carmen, Bianca, Emmy, and Anastasija, four women that Talita has saved between 2017-2023.

Mission Talita is a modified extension to GTA 5 (referred to as a ”mod”). Developed together with GTA enthusiasts, Mission Talita offers an authentic GTA gameplay experience with four new, fully playable, action-filled missions, unique artworks and objects. The iconic GTA radio is replaced with Radio Talia, an exclusive custom-made radio channel with a curated stream of in-game music featuring artists such as Swedish House Mafia feat. Sting and facts about Talita’s work.

The campaign was launched right after the release of the GTA 6 trailer, capitalizing on the piqued interest in all things GTA within the gaming community. The launch included a high-quality trailer, a nationwide outdoor campaign, and a dedicated campaign site where players could access the game and learn more about the missions and realities of sex trade victims. In collaboration with SneakersNStuff, we also offered exclusive Mission Talita merchandise with all proceeds supporting Talita’s ongoing work.

Mission Talita became an international gaming sensation, featured in top gaming outlets like GAMINGbible, Polygon, and IGN, reaching over 131 million people across 23 countries.

During its first week, it became the most downloaded mod on GTA5-mods.com, one of the largest and most popular GTA5 modding communities in the world.

The global gaming community praised and supported the initiative, underscoring its broad impact—an impact confirmed by the massive attitude shifts reported:

• Awareness of the realities faced by sex trafficking victims increased by 58%

• Empathy for sex trafficking victims rose by 64%

• Positive attitudes towards buying sex dropped by 41%

Additionally, the 21% drop in support for featuring prostitute characters in GTA 6 shows our audience is ready to change the narrative around sex trafficking – in GTA and in real life.

And just two weeks after launching Mission Talita, GTA 6 was suddenly declared as delayed…

As an NGO, resources are limited to the goodwill of other people. And it goes without saying that hijacking one of the world's most played and streamed videogames requires a certain level of ambition and above all a high level of production quality. So the challenges in relation to our high ambitions were many. Finding talented modders to take on this mission to code and develop a functioning mod that not only worked but lived up to the high standards of the GTA community took a lot of time and effort.

Also, creating a top-of-the-line game trailer entirely shot in GTA 5 is not a brief for a standard production company. Very few people are skilled enough to pull it off. Thankfully, our own film and motion specialist had some spare time and decided to make the impossible, possible with the help of probably hundreds of tutorials.