Leveraging sport events for the promotion of human rights in host communities: diffusion of anti-trafficking campaigns at Super Bowl LIV

ABSTRACT

Human trafficking is a complex human rights issue, and it has been associated with hosting large-scale sport events since the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Along with potential increases in demand for low-wage labour, the influx of tourists may lead to increased demand for sexual services which may be met, in part, by trafficked persons. Event rights holders and local organising committees have recognised human trafficking as a risk to be managed, leading to the implementation of anti-trafficking initiatives in host communities. In this study we employed a social event leverage framework and the theory of diffusion of innovations to examine how large-scale sport events can be harnessed by local communities to promote awareness of human trafficking. Using a social constructionist perspective, we utilised an instrumental case study design to understand the processes involved in planning, designing, and implementing event-related anti-trafficking campaigns. In this instance, the case – the 2020 Super Bowl hosted in Miami, Florida – facilitated the examination of the processes involved in leveraging events for the purpose of increasing awareness of human trafficking. Data included semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and archival materials. Results of a thematic analysis highlighted the importance of peer networks, local and international partnerships, and campaign strategy in the execution of event-related anti-trafficking campaigns.

HIGHLIGHTS

•  Utilises diffusion of innovations to examine the planning and management of event-related social marketing campaigns.

•  Highlights the social value of events for promoting awareness of human trafficking.

•  Emphasises the importance of collaboration, peer networks, and existing anti-trafficking and event infrastructure in event leveraging.

KEYWORDS:

• Social leverage
• diffusion of innovations
• sport events
• human trafficking
• human rights
• social marketing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

This study (#HUM00176215) was approved by the University of Michigan’s Research Ethics and Compliance Office.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ The Miami Super Bowl Host Committee is the official local organising committee for Super Bowl LIV.

² The Women’s Fund Miami-Dade is a social service agency founded in 1992. It focuses on improving the lives of women through advocacy, investment and impact.

³ It’s a Penalty was launched in 2014 and has since run its namesake campaign at 12 large-scale sport events including the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil; the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and every Super Bowl since 2018.

⁴ The highest circulating newspapers were determined using circulation and subscription statistics from the Media Intelligence Center database. This database is managed by the Alliance for Audited Media.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the University of Michigan’s MCubed 3.0 Research Program.