About
Real Men Don’t Buy Girls is a social media campaign launched by American actors Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher which attempts to raise awareness of youth sex trafficking. The campaign began with videos featuring other well known actors asking others to stand up against sex trafficking.
Origin
On April 6th, 2011, the official YouTube page for DNA,[2] the nonprofit founded by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher (now called Thorn), published a series of videos for their “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” campaign. These videos, which featured celebrities such as Kutcher, Bradley Cooper, Sean Penn and Jamie Fox, jokingly introduces basic things “real men” do, such as their laundry, before explaining real men don’t buy girls. As of September 2014, the highest viewed video in the series, which features Sean Penn, has gained over 320,000 views.
Spread
On August 14th, 2011, the Facebook page[6] for Real Men Don’t Buy Girls was created. As of September 2014, the page has gained over 5,000 likes. On May 8th, 2014, the hashtag #RealMenDontBuyGirls[7] trended in the United States and Nigeria after the popularity of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.
Criticism
On April 12th, 2011, Pop Dust[4] published an article titled “Why “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” Just Doesn’t Work” which asserts, amoung other criticims:
“They’re not that funny. Since the beginning of time, a whole lot of shit has been forgiven in the name of good comedy, and each of the above grievances could maybe have been looked over if these things were rip-roaring, gut-bustingly hilarious. But for the most part, these things are far stranger and more confounding than they are funny.
On April 14th, SheKnows[5] published an article titled “Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore’s Real Men Don’t Buy Girls PSAs Criticized” which covered the criticism being aimed at the PSAs by the executive director of anti-human trafficking organization.
On May 20th, 2014, The Huffington Post[3] published an article titled “The Problem with ‘Real Men Don’t Buy Girls’” which addressed the campaign in the wake of its increased popularity after the #BringBackOurGirls.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]The Huffington Post – Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore Launch ‘Real Men Don’t Buy Girls’ Campaign
[3]The Huffington Post – The Problem with ‘Real Men Don’t Buy Girls’
[4]Pop Dust – Why “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” Just Doesn’t Work
[5]She Knows – Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore’s Real Men Don’t Buy Girls PSAs Criticized
[6]Facebook – REALMEN DON’T BUYGIRLS
[7]BBC– #BBCtrending: #RealMenDontBuyGirls and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign