Five stars for exploitation

Developed by Ogilvy Madrid for Spain’s Ministry for Equality, this thought-provoking campaign reveals how men are publicly reviewing their experiences with sex workers on digital platforms; shamelessly using their full names along with star ratings. As if they were rating a hotel, meal or any other service. 

Co-directed by Belen Gayan and Xavi Souto, through Agosto, the film gives a sex worker a first-person voice while featuring such actual online reviews as: "For the price you pay, it's excellent." ★★★★☆. "Erica 10/10." 

A tireless advocate for women’s rights and laws against gender violence, The Minister for Equality Ana Redondo Garcia is leading the campaign, and aims to highlight the normalisation of a market that treats women's bodies as products that can be rated, compared, and discarded. 

The campaign reflects how prostitution has increasingly shifted beyond streets, clubs or brothels into the digital spaces where sexual exploitation is disguised behind the language of choice and online consumption. The Secretary of State for Equality, María Guijarro, also states that “the impunity of demand is part of the problem” and has accused society of having looked the other way for too long: “Prostitution is the only area in which sexual assault seems to be purchasable”.