Today, MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) and Canadian rock band Simple Plan, in partnership with USAID and Walk Free, announce the exclusive premiere of a music video that dramatically highlights the dangers and impact of human trafficking. The video will be broadcast on Friday, 2 November across MTV SEA, MTV Japan, MTV Korea, MTV Taiwan and MTV Vietnam on-air and online at www.mtvasia.com.
Produced for the track “This Song Saved My Life” from the album “Get Your Heart On!,” the powerful lyrics were crowdsourced from Simple Plan’s fans on Twitter with a handful of fans invited into the recording studio to contribute vocals on this ground-breaking collaboration. Following the exclusive premiere on MTV ASIA, the “This Song Saved My Life” video will be released globally across all of MTV’s platforms in 168 countries, which reach more than half a billion households worldwide.
The Simple Plan music video represents an innovative and creative way to fuse musical content with MTV’s pro-social messaging. ‘Freedom comes from knowledge,’ is the powerful message of the gripping four-minute video that takes viewers inside the emotionally charged story of young people trapped and forced to work in a textile factory set in Asia. The young victims suffer abuse among horrendous conditions. Seemingly, all hope is lost until one of the workers hatches a plan that ultimately brings freedom for all the young workers in the factory and justice to the factory operators.
The Simple Plan music video is the fourth in a series of award-winning collaborations to amplify the dangers and impact of human trafficking that launched in 2008 with Radiohead for the track “All I Need,” followed by a video with The Killers in 2009 by David Slade (Twilight: Eclipse) for the song “Goodnight, Travel Well,” and the 2010 “MK Ultra” video with Muse.
“We are very proud to team up with MTV EXIT in their ongoing campaign to end human trafficking and exploitation. Helping out young people in need is the central mission of our own charitable efforts with the Simple Plan Foundation and this collaboration with MTV EXIT gives us a chance to get involved and try to make a difference,” said Simple Plan.
“Last May, we had the privilege to travel with the MTV EXIT team to Sapa, Vietnam to shoot a documentary on victims of human trafficking and got to witness first-hand the absolutely devastating impact these horrible crimes can have on young people. We hope that, together with our fans, we can help bring awareness about this difficult situation and that this music video can help MTV EXIT and other great organizations working in the region to empower young people with knowledge,” said Simple Plan.
The “This Song Saved My Life” video was conceived by and produced with the generous in-kind support from 18 Feet & Rising Sydney and Curious Film. The strong images provide dramatic insight into the realities of trafficking, in particular the trafficking of children into forced labour while presenting a message to viewers about how people can help to end exploitation and trafficking.
For more details about human trafficking and exploitation in Asia visit www.mtvexit.org and follow MTV EXIT on social media platforms: Twitter @mtvexit and facebook.com/mtvexit.
