ABSTRACT
The characterisation of the consumer as villain has long been a feature of the sex trafficking narrative, where clients of sexual services are blamed for fuelling trafficking through their demand for commercial sex. Outside of the sex industry, however, it is only in recent years that the end-consumer of goods and services produced by victims of labour exploitation has emerged as part of the trafficking story. The current push to scrutinise supply chains, or engage in boycotts or buycotts, demonstrates the growing usage of political, or ethical, consumerism as a tool to combat human trafficking. In this chapter, I examine the linking of consumer and slave within the trafficking narrative through an analysis of consumerism awareness campaigns in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. I argue that consumers and corporations avoid a characterisation as villains of the story, and are instead framed as the hero protagonist, fighting to change the world through the power of consumer choices. The metanarrative of unquestioned capitalism underpinning this characterisation sidelines victims from the story, pursuing a narrative where the ultimate aim is products that are slavery-free, rather than slaves that are free.
