With a gaming experience at its core, our trailer aimed to engage an audience accustomed to high-production trailers with extravagant soundtracks. Something Talita, as a small NGO, could never afford.

But by partnering with Universal Publishing Group we were granted access to a soundtrack that aligned perfectly with our message – "Redlight" by Swedish House Mafia feat. Sting. A modern rendition of ”Roxanne” by The Police that tells the story of a woman’s escape from prostitution and trafficking, and framed the campaign excellently.

BACKGROUND 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.

IDEA In Los Santos, the fictional city of GTA 5, prostitutes are being exploited, beaten, robbed, and killed on a daily basis 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 streamed game in the world and changing 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 (mod) 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.

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 FILM The trailer begins as a homage to the original Grand Theft Auto 5 trailer, showcasing the vibrant city of Los Santos. A female voiceover with a foreign accent narrates her hope for a better life upon moving there.

It sounds like a phone call. However, the tone quickly shifts as we delve deeper into the city's darker side, where women are exploited, beaten, robbed, and killed.

The voiceover reveals her captivity, abuse, and desperation for rescue. Suddenly, a van labeled "Talita" arrives, and a man promises to save her. He navigates the streets in true GTA fashion.

The van drives off into the night, transitioning to graphics displaying the mod's title and urging viewers to download the gaming mod from the campaign site.

RESULTS 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…

SUMMARY Mission Talita draws inspiration from a deep understanding of the gaming community, and what it takes for a brand to make use of a particular gaming context without coming off as intrusive.

The idea originates from the insight that GTA 5 might very well be many young men’s first encounter with prostitution, and the strategy to use that platform to offer an alternative perspective.

Game trailers are a huge deal in gaming, and can be compared to the cover of a book. While there are many different books on the shelf, it’s the ones with the most eye-catching covers that get all the attention.

With a target audience accustomed to high-production trailers with extravagant soundtracks, we needed to make the best game trailer ever made in the world of GTA modding to get them intrigued, and at the same time capture the core elements and storyline of the game.