Terre des Hommes, an international charitable humanitarian federation which concentrates on children’s rights, is using cutting edge digital technology to battle the exploitation of children online.
One of their online tools is known as “Sweetie.” Sweetie is a fictitious, virtual 10-year old created by Terre des Hommes to lure and identify patrons of online child predators.
“It took Terre des Hommes only two months to identify thousands of perpetrators, all thanks to the fictitious, virtual child character ‘Sweetie’. The easiness with which these perpetrators are able to contact young, poor victims and get away with it makes for the stark growth of the phenomenon. Since 2007, only 6 perpetrators have been convicted. Terre des Hommes now calls upon the international community to protect the children involved, before webcam child sex tourism becomes a new industry.”
A documentary, below, about the project won numerous golds and the Grand Prix for Good Award at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Advertising Age reported:
Created out of Dutch agency Lemz, this innovative online campaign used an extremely lifelike digital avatar of a young Filipino girl to lure and identify patrons of online child p–n for charity organization Terre des Hommes. The campaign earned numerous Golds throughout the festival but was ineligible for the top prize in the general categories, which require that Grand Prix be awarded to paid clients. It wasn’t surprising, then, that it picked up the Grand Prix for Good on the festival’s final night, for which pro-bono and charity campaigns are eligible.
For those unfamiliar, according to their website “Terre des Hommes Netherlands is dedicated to putting a stop to child exploitation in developing countries. We work with local project partners and are active in fifteen countries (and provide emergency aid in two countries) spread across four regions: Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Africa and South America.”
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