McCann Created an Escort Service That Had a Macabre Surprise for Anyone Who Tried It

Illegal prostitution has always been fraught with the risk of violence, but today the internet provides broader scope and anonymity. Alongside the sense of entitlement that some people get when they pay for something, this both strengthens the industry while making it harder to see its victims.

That's why French organization Le Mouvement du Nid launched its own escort website, with help from McCann Paris.

Wait, what…?

At first glance, Girls of Paradise looks like a basic escort service. You can check out profiles and pictures, and opt to chat or call the women you're interested in before arranging a date.

But the site's goal is to show clients that, by financing the black market, they're accomplices in the violence these women face. That's easy to forget behind a computer screen—until you start engaging the girls themselves: True to its name (if you believe in an afterlife, anyway), each woman featured in Girls of Paradise is already dead.

The reveal is made when clients initiate a chat or a phone call. They're shown photos of the woman, beat up and bloody, or simply told that she isn't available tonight because she was killed in a manner most grisly. In the case study video, you can actually hear the reaction of one potential client, who's only able to say "NO!" while a voice calmly explains that the girl he wanted was found dead in her apartment with 53 stab wounds.

Over 600 calls were taken in the first week, not to mention thousands of chat messages. Le Mouvement du Nid, which seeks to help women victimized by the sex trade, believes the campaign woke France's moral indignation—on April 6, the country made paying for sex illegal.

This isn't the first time we've encountered a surprise reveal that uses online habits as its lever: In 2013, The Walking Dead used Tinder to promote its upcoming season, with pretty women progressively transforming into zombies as men chatted with them. But if Mouvement du Nid's work is powerful, it's for the opposite reason: The Walking Dead slid fantasy into the everyday. Girls of Paradise brutally breaks the fourth wall of fantasy and drives cold, ugly reality into clients' faces.

That job is less simple. But while the 'net has made many crimes a lot murkier, it's also made it far easier for nonprofit organizations to get their messages out there in ways as impactful as any big-budget brand.

As a tribute to its resonance, Girls of Paradise will score a gold Clio this Wednesday.

Note: This article has been updated to highlight illegal sex work, and not the state of legal—and regulated—prostitution.

CREDITS

Company: McCann Paris
Agency Network: McCann Worldgroup
Production Company: Medialab Technology, Paris
Creative Agency: McCann Paris, Clichy
Executive Creative Director: Riccardo Fregoso
Executive Creative Director: Julien Chiapolini
Art Director: Christophe Rambaux
Copywriter: Gilles Ollier
CEO: Bruno Tallent
Account Coordinator: Coline Déchelette
Worldwide Account Director: Fiona Ferrier-Weil
Digital Account Manager: Selim Boukhanef
Strategic Planner: Shadi Razavi
Art Buyer: Véronique Leblanc
Art Buyer: Delphine Devaux
Producer: Isabelle Créchet
Producer: Caroline de Génis
Chief technology officer: Dragan Kontic
Technical Project Manager: Vianney de Villier
Technical Project Manager: Clément Hardouin
Front End Developer: Pierre-Yves Chassaigne
Managing Director: Agnieszka Kozbial
Sound Producer: Capitaine Plouf

Angela Natividad

@luckthelady angela.natividad@gmail.com Angela Natividad is a frequent contributor to Adweek's creativity blog, AdFreak. She is also the author of Generation Creation and co-founder of Hurrah, an esports agency. She lives in Paris and when she isn't writing, she can be found picking food off your plate.