As it's the last day of Unseen's #letsnailit campaign, I thought I'd share my thoughts.
Unseen is a charity which aims to eradicate modern slavery, and interestingly, raises a lot of awareness of modern slavery occurring within the United Kingdom. The #letsnailit campaign is focusing on victims of trafficking, who have been forced to work in nail salons for little or no money and/or in poor working conditions. The action call is that to raise awareness we should all paint our nails bright colours (especially yellow) and spread the word.
Firstly, I passionately believe that way more needs to be done in order to combat modern slavery, both abroad and in this country. Most people would confidently tell you that slavery is a past problem, and not one which currently applies to the United Kingdom and that dominates the fashion industry. From businesses IN THIS COUNTRY paying employees below minimum wage and forcing them to work too many hours in one day (as well as a total lack of transparency earlier in the supply chain, God knows who picked the cotton for some of our clothes), to newly arrived migrants having their passports confiscated and made to work in a nail salon for little or no money, the truth is this: we no longer see the slaves who work for us as slaves, and therefore, in our ignorance as consumers, they do not exist. That, I believe, is the point being made by the charity's chosen title: 'Unseen'.
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| #letsnailit woooooorld |
Through its title, Unseen acknowledges that most slavery is now hidden from us very deliberately. After all, if you saw the conditions a victim of modern slavery was being made to work in, would you buy the product of modern slavery? Of course not. You would not buy trainers or jeans made by slaves. You wouldn't want to get your nails done and consequentially fund the exploitation of a victim of modern slavery. So, keeping consumers unaware means there is still a market for this exploitation to take place. That is why I believe Unseen's work is of tremendous importance.
In regards to the campaign itself, I've been really impressed by their strategy. Their approach to raising awareness is modern, fun and positive - you can make a difference. Painting your nails bright, sunny yellow will draw comments of surprise, which then opens up the discussion.
I'm also really fed up, as many others are, of the emotional guilt tripping that surrounds some campaigns in order to get you to part with money. Unseen, in contrast, have handled their campaign extremely well. This particular topic of modern slavery is abhorrent, tragic and horrific, but emotional blackmail is far less effective a technique these days than the simple fact that you could change another persons life for the better if you #Spotthesigns - a list which Unseen has provided on its website and social media. As someone who loves going to nail salons, I really appreciate any attempt to make me more aware of this problem. We need to know the warning signs, and how to spot them:
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| Taken from Unseenuk.org. Please click to expand. |
The #letsnailit campaign has great potential to expand - I'd really like to see other things turning yellow during the campaign week to draw attention to this hugely important, yet often overlooked cause. This suggestion is inspired by Breast Cancer Now's #WearItPink campaign, making buildings and newspaper headings pink! Perhaps fashion magazines could also follow suit with #letsnailit yellow. With more press attention, the only way is up.
The only issue would be reaching those victims of modern slavery directly. For starters, many victims can't speak English, and this is is another way exploiters keep them isolated. So, how do we communicate this message, this hope? I've heard suggestions far and wide, and have personally tried to come up with some; from putting posters on the back of toilet doors in very simple English, to putting a helpline number on the nail bottle itself, there is always something we can do. But these victims are always going to be hard to reach, due to being controlled - such is the nature of this great epidemic. It is for this reason that Unseen's work needs to be seen.
If you would like to donate to #Unseen, or would like further information on what they do, please click here:
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