Pop songs, cartoons aim to deter Central American youth from heading for US
US and Central American campaigns are deploying ominous cartoon characters and catchy tunes 鈥� not to mention some grandmotherly advice 鈥� to deter children from migrating north.
US and Central American campaigns are deploying ominous cartoon characters and catchy tunes 鈥� not to mention some grandmotherly advice 鈥� to deter children from migrating north.
With thousands of minors trekking perilously from Central America through Mexico and into the United States, several nations are looking for new ways to halt the flow.
But can El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras 鈥� with聽high rates of murder and unemployment 鈥� convince their citizens to stay put? And can the US persuade migrants that the 鈥淎merican Dream鈥� may not be worth dying for?
They're giving it a shot 鈥� with cartoons, posters, and hit pop songs.
El Salvador this week launched a public service campaign to educate families about the risks of sending their kids to the US. The animated ad is presented like a storybook, with the voice of a young child reading the title, 鈥淭he tale of the coyote,鈥� and listing all the terrible things that frequently happen to unaccompanied minors along the northward journey.
鈥淚t鈥檚 all lies. We spent days without eating and he hit me,鈥� one child tells viewers about the promises made by "coyotes," or smugglers, of safe passage.
Another child chimes in, 鈥淔or me, the coyote sold me to other people who forced me to work and abused me.鈥�
The commercial, complete with evil laughs and ominous drawings, is anything but cheerful. It ends with a serious lecture from a grandmotherly figure, and advises viewers to take care of and protect their children. 鈥淚t鈥檚 our responsibility,鈥� she warns.
The hope is聽that the message reaches any adult who might consider sending 鈥� or sending for 鈥� a child.聽The clip started playing "in all corners" of El Salvador on Tuesday, and is scheduled to air in parts of the US with large Salvadoran populations, like Washington D.C., Texas, and California.
"It's not right that unscrupulous people who profit from trafficking [humans] are creating rumors, confusing fathers and mothers so that they send their children to risk their lives," said Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugo Mart铆nez.
Will it make a difference?
Some estimates have more than 90,000 migrants under 18 attempting to enter the US illegally across the Mexican border by year's end. Already the US has started deporting children and mothers, in hopes they carry a clear message back: Don鈥檛 risk the journey, you鈥檒l be sent home.
The US launched a $1 million ad campaign in the region this month aimed at stemming the flow of young migrants. The 鈥淒anger Awareness Campaign鈥� will utilize hundreds of billboards and some 6,500 TV and radio spots. 聽According to the Associated Press, a TV ad set to run in Guatemala shows a teen boy getting ready to leave home for the US, sending a strong warning to viewers.
In case the TV spots and billboards are too obvious, the US has had success with other approaches 鈥� like pop music 鈥� in the past. In the early 2000s the border patrol hired an agency to write songs about the risks of illegal immigration, reports the Associated Press. Lyrics included things like, "After some hours/ Abelardo opened his eyes/ And in the middle of the cold night/ Discovered his dead cousin at his side," set to an upbeat, accordion-filled tune.聽
In 2009, the songs and other measures were credited with helping decrease the number of border-crossing-related deaths.
According to The Daily Beast, there鈥檚 a more recent US-penned hit filled with messaging about the risks of the journey north called 鈥淟a Bestia,鈥� or "The Beast." It鈥檚 a nickname for the freight trains that carry migrants across Mexico, and that are responsible for many deaths and lost limbs along the way. Rodolfo Hernandez wrote the lyrics, including: 鈥淭hey call her the Beast from the South, this wretched train of death. With the devil in the boiler, whistles, roars, twists and turns.鈥�
鈥淚 really think that putting music to this message makes it very powerful, because people listen to the radio in their towns and their villages,鈥� said 鈥淟a Bestia鈥� composer Carlo Nicolau. 鈥淭he songs don鈥檛 accuse anyone of wrongdoing, there are no heroes or villains in these stories. They are just letting people know that their lives are in danger.鈥�
To be sure, a new surge in Central American youths arriving at the US-Mexican border involves run-ins with armed gangs and corrupt police officers, threats of rape and robbery, and passages atop thundering freight trains or crossing quick-moving rivers. But such events have gone on for decades.
And so have campaigns trying to stem the flow.
An excerpt below from a conversation between a professor of sociology, David Spener, and a migrant from Mexico, published by the Economist in 2010, highlights how ads meant to deter migration or highlight the dangers聽of coyotes can be misinterpreted:
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