Buy a Girl: An Anti Child Marriage Campaign

Bangalore: As the police and NGOs activists kept their vigil and successfully stopped many child marriages on Akshaya Tritiya on Tuesday, a festival associated with mass weddings, an unusual campaign against child marriage renewed their calls against the same. The most original campaigns among the many against child marriage in India, is “The Girl Store” - which some may say is in bad taste. A Wall Street Journal article takes a closer look a the ad campaign.

Below is the excerpt of their introductory message:

“100 percent genuine girls.

Young.

Innocent.

And available.

Experience the sensation of buying a girl.”

But as you expect the worst, fearing you’ve come across a child trafficking website – you realize this is just a play on words.

The website encourages visitors to “buy a girl her life back” by purchasing school supplies for her. In turn, this will help prevent “Indian girls being sold into marriage and sex slavery.”

On their site, one can browse through pictures of the girls, all between the ages of 5 and 12, exhibited in a layout similar to that of fashion e-commerce websites.

One can buy the girls items like a uniform ($27), workbooks ($25), a backpack ($20) and a pencil set ($3) from “The Girl Store”. There is also a tutor available, who comes free of charge, to assist the girls who start education at a later age. The U.S.-based foundation recruits teachers from the local populace to help in teaching.