Not content to wait for recently appointed U.N. crime-fighter Nicolas Cage to bring global justice to those engaged in human trafficking and child sex slavery, fellow concerned celebs Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have undertaken their own initiative to bring these very real problems to light. And what better way to communicate the fact that you totally shouldn’t traffic humans than by creating a bunch of PSAs with “that offbeat feel of Funny Or Die,” as Kutcher himself puts it?
After all, simply browbeating viewers with statistics and shame throughout the years obviously hasn’t worked. Instead, why not have Sean Penn make a grilled-cheese sandwich with an iron, then challenge the viewers’ masculinity by pointing out that this is the sort of thing Real Men do? As opposed to buying girls. Because Real Men don’t do that. In summation, do the real man things that Real Men like Jamie Foxx, Bradley Cooper, Justin Timberlake, Drake, Jason Mraz, and the Old Spice guy do here, but don’t buy child sex slaves, which is something Real Men do not do. Hopefully that’s clear—and if not, Eva Longoria and Jessica Biel will purr more examples of Real Men at you.
Anyway, fair enough, celebrities. Human trafficking and child sex slavery are incredibly wrong, and clearly these ads have accomplished what they set out to do, which is to get the Internet talking about them, and thus dramatically shift the tide of public opinion on how wrong it is. Make no mistake: It’s wrong! Still, something tells us those actually engaged in those practices don’t particularly care about, you know, measuring up to Edward Norton. [Check out all the videos at Videogum]