Anti-sex trafficking billboards installed near Truist Park ahead of MLB All-Star Game

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A new billboard campaign is drawing attention to the dangers of sex trafficking ahead of the MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park.

The advertisements say things like “buying sex will get you tossed” and “sex buying is a serious error.”

The campaign is by Rights4Girls, a national human rights organization working to combat gender-based violence.

Ahead of MLB All-Star Weekend, the organization purchased ad space around Atlanta to remind people that sex trafficking is a serious and heinous crime.

Yasmin Vafa serves as the executive director of Rights4Girls, which is based in Washington D.C.

“We have launched this billboard campaign to really draw attention to an often-invisible aspect of sex trafficking, and that is the fact that there are these sex buyers that are really the ones fueling the market,“ Vafa said. “This isn’t just ‘boys will be boys,’ or shy guys who can’t get a date at the bar. This really is a form of gender-based violence.”

During a Wednesday press conference about All-Star Weekend safety plans, Cobb County Public Safety Director Michael Register said human trafficking is a year-round problem, but it tends to increase around large-scale events.

According to Rights4Girls, 169 people were arrested in 2019 leading up to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta, including 26 traffickers and 34 men allegedly trying to engage in sex with a minor.

Earlier this year, Rights4Girls says eight sex trafficking victims were rescued during the men’s Final Four basketball championship weekend in San Antonio, Texas.

“This isn’t a victimless crime. This isn’t harmless or innocuous behavior. They are in fact enacting real violence on these people,” Vafa said.

If you are a victim or want to report an incident of sex trafficking, you can contact local police, or call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.