Charity Killers Video In World Premiere Tonight
In an exclusive collaboration, MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) and One of JUICE’s favourite rock bands The Killers have partnered with UNICEF and USAID to produce a music video that dramatically highlights the dangers and impact of trafficking for sexual exploitation, particularly for young women. The video, for the band’s track ‘Goodnight, Travel Well’ from the album Day & Age will premiere globally across all of MTV’s properties on-air and on-line on Monday July 13 2009.
This video is the 2nd in a series of music video collaborations to highlight the dangers and impact of human trafficking that launched last year with an award-winning film produced by MTV EXIT for the Radiohead single ‘All I Need’.
For those not familiar with the term human trafficking, human trafficking is defined by the United Nations as “the recruitment, transportation, and receipt of a person for sexual or economic exploitation by force, fraud, coercion, or deception” in order to make a profit. The UN estimates that at any one time there are 2.5 million trafficked victims in the world, with the majority of these victims in Asia and the Pacific. It is the second-largest illegal trade after drugs, with criminal traffickers earning over US$10 billion every year through the buying and selling of human beings. Often, victims are young men and women – the MTV demographic – who are guilty only of wanting a better life for themselves and their families.
The Killers commented, “We are deeply shocked and appalled that women and children are forced into such exploitative situations. We hope that through MTV’s efforts and this powerful video that millions of people across the world learn about this tragic form of modern-day slavery”.
“There is almost no country in the world now that isn’t affected by human trafficking in some way,” said Susan Bissell, UNICEF’s Head of Child Protection. “The Statistics are staggering. More than 1.2 million children are being trafficked each year and nearly 80 percent of all trafficking is for sexual exploitation, and the most at risk are girls. We see this music video as a powerful way to reach out and raise awareness among young people, across borders and across language barriers.”
‘The Goodnight, Travel Well’ video is directed by David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy). As with the 2008 Radiohead video, the creative concept was developed by Australian advertising agency CRC, with support also provided by UK music consultancy Huge Music. It provides insight into the realities of trafficking, in particular the trafficking of children and adolescents into forced prostitution, and provides a link to information about how people can help to end exploitation and trafficking.
‘Goodnight, Travel Well’ will premiere July 13, Monday on MTV Asia at 10pm on Astro Channel 713. All the programming is also available to be streamed from www.mtvexit.org.