In the Grand Theft Auto V city of Los Santos, prostitutes are exploited, beaten, robbed and killed with no rescue in sight. Until now. To celebrate International Women’s Day, Swedish non-profit organisation, Talita, has launched a new GTA V experience based on the real-life stories of women who have fallen victim to prostitution and sex trafficking.
The alternative GTA story, Mission Talita, flips the script of the cult franchise, allowing gamers to embark on missions to save the prostitutes of Los Santos. The game also includes an exclusive radio channel featuring music by Swedish House, Mafia feat. Sting. The goal is to raise awareness among young men, an audience that is notoriously hard to reach, and engage them in the fight to shift attitudes that fuel the demand for sexual services. Mission Talita is based on an idea from Åkestam Holst, the Swedish pro-bono ad agency of Talita.
“2024 marks Talita’s twentieth anniversary and today’s launch of Mission Talita goes to show our continued dedication to finding new ways of bringing visibility to the severe situations that far too many women all around the world face daily,” stated Anna Sander, co-founder of Talita. “With GTA being one of the world’s most played and streamed games, the launch of Mission Talita acts as a trojan horse that allows us to come into contact with an audience whose help we need to create meaningful and long-lasting change.”
By downloading the Mission Talita mod, GTA V players get access to four new, fully playable, missions based on the true stories about Carmen, Bianca, Emmy, and Anastasija – women that Talita has saved from prostitution and sex trafficking between 2017 and 2023. All missions take place on the familiar streets of Los Santos, but in contrast to the regular gameplay in which prostitutes are exploited, beaten, robbed, and even killed, Mission Talita familiarises players with the story of each woman, before setting them off on a mission to help the women out of prostitution. The mod gives insight into the severity of the situations that millions of women face every day and what Talita does to help them.
“The possibility of purchasing sexual services in video games is a common phenomenon that, over the years, has become increasingly graphic and detailed. The fact that there’s a place where young men, and women, are purchasing sex every day was an uncomfortable but important insight in order to reach a target audience that’s notoriously difficult to reach,” noted Stephanie Moradi and Caroline Andersson, creatives at Swedish advertising agency Åkestam Holst.
The mod was developed by the talented GTA enthusiast, FelixTheBlackCat, with support from Vxruz_Danz. The ambition has been to replicate core gameplay elements from GTA V to guarantee an authentic gaming experience. The custom-made in-game Radio Talita includes music from Swedish House Mafia feat. Sting, Salvatore Ganacci, and several other artists. By tuning in, players can enjoy a curated stream of in-game music and facts about Talita’s work.
Mission Talita can be downloaded through the campaign site, missiontalita.com. The site also features the stories of the women on which the game is based, along with global facts and statistics about prostitution and sex trafficking. Visitors can also choose to support Talita’s work through donations or by purchasing exclusive merch from which all proceeds go to supporting their continued work.
The standard GTA gameplay isn’t kind to prostitutes:
Credits:
Client: Talita Sweden
Co-founders: Anna Sander & Josephine Appelqvist
Creative Agency: Åkestam Holst NoA
Art Director: Caroline Andersson
Copywriter: Stephanie Moradi
Creative Director: Joakim Khoury
Client Director: Natalie Pehar N’doye
CEO: Jenny Kaiser
Head of Design: Hugo Wallmo
Planners: Stina Hansson & Harald Larsson,
Researcher: John Janér
Account Managers: Linda Bryttmar & Anna Nollendorfs
Production Designer: Mattias Nordenham
Film Producers: Petur Mogensen & Nisse Axman
Producer: Sanna Wikman
3D: Christoffer Näll
PR: Gabriel Francke Rodau
Developer: North Kingdom NoA
Front End Developer: Nicolas White
CEO: Nina Amjadi
Mod Development: FelixTheBlackCat
Mod Developer: Vxruz_Danz
Music: Universal Music Publishing
Creative Manager: Jonathan Fröberg
Radio Talita Producers: Navid & Mårten
PR & Distribution: Lamin Sonko @ Frame
Sound Design: Andreas Andersson @ Ponytail
Event & Merch: Esportal Inferno Online Stockholm @ Sneakersnstuff
Digital Analyst: Jennie Rönnskär Wilén @ NoA Connect
