Take Back the Sky Initiative
We’ve got a challenge for you. Drive all the way up and down I-75. Drive up I-85 to Durham. Drive up I-95. Drive I-20.
And find another thirty miles packed with as many sex spa billboards as you see between Forsythe and Warner Robins.
We don’t think you will.
You can log hundreds upon hundreds of miles—through rural and urban areas, South and North—without spotting even one sex spa billboard. We’ve got nearly twenty between Forsythe and Warner Robins alone.
In Middle Georgia, hundreds of drivers and their passengers are daily subjected to an onslaught of billboards advertising spas which have records of prostitution. At best, these billboards advertise criminal prostitution rings or brothels. At worst, they advertise for traffickers. 
It’s time to hold billboard companies responsible.
Here’s how we can take back the skies together.
- Pressure billboard companies to deny advertising to any “spa” with a record of prostitution related arrests. Lamar Advertising--one of the largest billboard companies in the region--no longer advertises for “Asian spas” and “saunas.” Why can’t CBS and Olympus follow Lamar’s good lead? If they hear your voices, they will. We’re including their contact information below.
2. Sponsor billboards raising awareness about trafficking. This one is easy. For every billboard advertising a sex spa, let’s put one up telling people about the reality of sex trafficking. Let drivers see the faces of modern-day slavery. 
Billboards for brothels and sex trafficking rings increase demand for their product--women for sale. It’s as simple as that. As one of the outdoor advertiser's websites puts it: “you can’t beat outdoor for sheer size of audience. . . outdoor sells constantly and rapidly builds and maintains brand awareness.”
Although the primary targets for these billboards are drivers between the ages of 18-34--the majority of whom are men--thousands of young girls and children are also forced to see these billboards. As CBS Outdoor points out, "unlike other media, they cannot be turned off, zapped through or avoided. . . we are ALWAYS ON!"
The traffickers understand this. It’s time we do too.
Our “Take Back the Skies” initiative is designed to decrease the ability of illegal spas to effectively advertise criminal activity, at the same time as it increases awareness about sex trafficking.
The best way to fight sex trafficking is to reduce demand.
Together, we can take back the sky.
Two Action Options:
1. Sponsor a Billboard. Billboard sponsorship starts at $500 for displaying one billboard along the interstate for a month; you or your organization can donate in increments of $500.
2. Contact a Billboard Company.
CBS Outdoor:
National toll-free number: 1-800-926-8834
Sales representative Rick Cooper
rick.cooper@cbsoutdoor.com
Olympus Outdoor Advertising:
3600 Mansell Rd
Suite 175
Alpharetta, GA 30022
678.352.3200 | 800.570.3232
Atlanta@olympusmediallc.com
InSite Media
Glenn Flutie, President
InSite MediaCom, LLC
(888) 867-2194
Gflutie2@aol.com
Here's a sample letter for you to use when you contact these companies:
Dear Sir or Madam:
We’re writing to ask that you follow Lamar Outdoor Advertising’s lead and refuse to rent billboards to spas, saunas, and massage parlors who advertise criminal activities. National authorities on sex trafficking agree that massage parlors, saunas, and spas provide cover not only for prostitution and masturbation for hire, but also frequently for sex trafficking.
Atlanta authorities working with police tell us that many of the women in these massage parlors have been drawn into the world of sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion. In Clayton County, police raided 14 spas, nearly a third of which were, according to the Sheriff, “definitely holding women against their will.” “One woman said she had been held for four years—even tried to escape and was unsuccessful but was assaulted for trying to escape.” (http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=45584)
Our research on your billboards for unlicensed spas and saunas in the Middle Georgia area shows that at the very least, these billboards currently advertise places of prostitution, and at worst they are advertising for traffickers.
We’re asking you on behalf of our business, religious, and educational communities to do as Lamar Advertising has done and pull any billboards advertising illicit activities on our highways.
Sincerely,
Name
Media:
1. The Macon Telegraph, March 16, 2010: "Billboard Companies Turning Against Massage Parlor Signs." Be sure to read Olympus's rationalization for continuing to advertise for patrons who have been arrested for criminal activity.
http://www.macon.com/2010/03/16/1060355/billboard-companies-turning-against.html
2. WMAZ's story on the billboard campaign: "Middle Georgia Group Uses Billboards to Counter Spa Advertisements."