A large body of scholarship has described the narrow set of media narratives used to report trafficking for sexual exploitation to the public. This article examines US media coverage of human trafficking in relation to the Super Bowl, American football’s championship game. Available empirical evidence does not suggest that major sporting events cause trafficking for sexual exploitation. Yet, we find that 76 per cent of US print media from 2010 to 2016 propagated the ‘Super Bowl sex trafficking’ narrative. Local coverage of the 2018 Super Bowl in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was different, presenting a sceptical stance toward this narrative. The article describes how this substantial shift resulted from our research group and anti-trafficking stakeholders employing an action research approach to craft a Super Bowl communication strategy that aligned with empirical evidence. Although sensationalist narratives are difficult to dislodge, the Minnesota case shows that evidence on trafficking can be effectively used to inform media and impact public perceptions, when researchers work with stakeholders on the ground. Lessons learnt are shared to enable others to replicate these results.

中文翻译：

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揭穿“超级碗性贩运”的神话：媒体大肆宣传或基于事实的报道

大量的学者描述了用于描述向公众报告为性剥削而贩运人口的狭窄媒体叙述。本文研究了美国媒体对与美式橄榄球冠军赛超级碗有关的人口贩运的报道。现有的经验证据并不表明重大体育赛事会导致性剥削的贩运。然而，我们发现，从2010年到2016年，美国有76％的平面媒体传播了“超级碗性贩运”的故事。明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市2018年超级碗的当地报道有所不同，对此说法持怀疑态度。本文介绍了这种重大转变是如何由我们的研究小组和反贩运利益相关者采用行动研究方法来制定与经验证据相一致的超级碗传播策略的结果。尽管耸人听闻的叙述很难被消除，但明尼苏达州的案件表明，当研究人员与实地利益相关者合作时，有关贩运的证据可以有效地用于传播媒体并影响公众的看法。分享的经验教训使其他人能够复制这些结果。