Protect Girlhood: How a National PSA Is Raising Awareness About Online Safety

If you asked most people what a sex trafficking awareness campaign looks like, they’d probably picture something dark, alarming, and graphic. But the truth is, exploitation rarely looks the way we imagine. And when a message relies only on shock, people often look away.

That’s why this campaign made a different choice.

“Girlhood” pairs real survivors’ voiceovers with visuals of everyday life: girls at roller derby practice, playing Dungeons & Dragons, laughing with friends, scrolling their phones, and moving through the ordinary beauty of growing up. The point is not to sensationalize trauma but to reveal what’s at stake – girlhood as something vivid and powerful – and what exploitation steals away.

This work was created for SHERO Foundation by Duncan Channon and launched in partnership with SixDegrees.org and Advertising Week through the inaugural Purpose, Produced initiative, a model built to give grassroots nonprofits access to world-class creative talent and reach.

None of this work happened by accident — or because these organizations had large budgets.

Every campaign produced through Purpose Produced is built entirely pro bono, made possible by agencies, creators, and production partners donating their time, talent, and resources. Not because it’s easy, but because it’s necessary.

For many nonprofits, especially those doing frontline or community-based work, the cost of high-quality storytelling and media placement is simply out of reach. And yet, visibility is often the difference between staying small and scaling impact.

This collaborative model exists to close that gap.

By pairing nonprofits with world-class creative partners and platforms they would otherwise never access, Purpose Produced helps missions break through the noise, reach wider audiences, and spark the kind of awareness that leads to real action.

It’s not about charity.
It’s about equity in access — and using creativity as a force multiplier for good.

A message designed for the way the world actually works now

The campaign’s creative strategy is deceptively simple: show what is worth protecting, not only what we fear.

This choice made it possible to invite communities into the work without asking them to participate in anything visually disturbing. In practice, that meant parents, schools, and local partners could say yes to participating because the visuals honor young people instead of exploiting their pain.

As one producer involved in the shoot explained, the hardest part wasn’t logistics, it was the pitch – explaining the topic while assuring families the imagery would remain thoughtful and safe. When people understood the “why,” many were willing to help.

The collaboration behind the camera is part of the impact

At the core of Purpose, Produced is collaboration and collective impact, and the way “Girlhood” came together exemplifies this spirit of partnership. This national campaign was filmed entirely in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, by a small team at Gannet Creative House, a three-person production company that had only been in business about a month when the opportunity arrived.

This is the kind of story the creative world loves, because it’s rare and real:

As the agency, Duncan Channon proposed a wishlist of scenes to capture and hoped the production team could deliver a fraction.
The local production team didn’t just meet expectations; they overdelivered, capturing far more than planned.
Locations across the area became a universal backdrop for American girlhood, including a high school that opened its doors for a Saturday shoot.
Community partners donated food, lodging, connections to young performers, and behind-the-scenes documentation.

It’s easy to call something “community-powered.” This campaign actually was, built by a network of people saying “yes” because the mission mattered.

World-class work doesn’t require a fancy zip code

The making of “Girlhood” is also a case study in what’s possible when creativity is treated as a shared resource.

The shoot ran for four days with a small crew and was produced on essentially no budget (out-of-pocket costs were described as roughly around a thousand dollars). Professional post-production and sound were handled by specialists outside the region, but every frame of footage was captured in Fort Walton Beach.

Because the voiceover scripts were built from interviews with real survivors, the campaign’s emotional center remains grounded in lived experience, not scripted imitation.

“Girlhood” is a rare combination of elements that, when paired together, create a beautifully authentic campaign:

Survivor truth
Strategic restraint
High-craft production
A visual metaphor that sticks

Across platforms, the campaign has generated:
Almost 230,000 views and growing on YouTube, with an extraordinary 99.5% positive engagement rate
More than 93,490 views on Instagram, with over 240 shares, saves, and reposts
Over 9,350 views on Facebook

Where the campaign goes from here

“Girlhood” launched in January 2026 across television, digital platforms, and out-of-home, including placements like bus stops and digital billboards, reaching audiences where attention actually lives. The response has been immediate and powerful.

For a grassroots-driven cause campaign built through collaboration and community, the resonance speaks volumes. Viewers are sharing deeply personal stories in the comments, and others are rallying around them in support. Comments include, “Everybody needs to see this, thank you for making this video” and “[this] literally gave me goosebumps. hope this message can spread more everywhere.”

The ripple effects are already visible. The success of the project helped open new inquiries and opportunities for the production team involved, showing how cause-related work can strengthen creative ecosystems, too.

SHERO Foundation has also activated a city-wide Protect Girlhood billboard campaign in partnership with Lamar Advertising, delivering 12+ million impressions across 10 high-visibility placements throughout the Las Vegas Valley. Positioned along major commuter corridors including I-15 and I-215, the campaign drove large-scale awareness for trafficking prevention and the protection of girlhood in one of the nation’s most critical regions.

Why this story matters

This campaign doesn’t ask people to stare at horror.

It asks something more enduring:

Notice what’s precious. Learn how harm actually happens. Pay attention to the places where safety can be strengthened: in families, in schools, in communities, and online.

Protecting girlhood isn’t one organization’s job. It’s a shared responsibility and a shared opportunity to choose action.