In 2008, Justin Dillon directed Call+Response, a documentary about human trafficking and modern day slaves. The film's featured participants include former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. Following this documentary, Dillon received funding and support from the US State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to create The Slavery Footprint project -- which launched last month.

The Slavery Footprint project is accessible online, iOS and with Android devices. With the use of infographics, the interactive site raises awareness around how a startling number of daily items and luxuries contribute to ongoing human trafficking and forced labor around the world. Users are encouraged to calculate their own slavery footprint by assessing personal purchases and lifestyle choices such as cosmetics, food consumption, number of electronic devices and even number of bathrooms in their home.

In addition to the site's survey, the associated Free World mobile apps take the initiative one step further -- allowing users to check in on brands and hold them accountable for various points at which their products may have been created, shipped or sourced through slaves in their supply chain. Users may check in on brands similar to the way they would for existing location based apps such as Foursquare.

The tone of the Slavery Footprint project focuses on serving as a wake-up call. Each platform (online, iOS and Android) provides many opportunities for participants to share their findings, reach out to decision-makers and encourage friends to learn more. The organization has also partnered with several offline initiatives such as mtvU's Slavery Footprint Campus Challenge, which highlights and supports university students raising awareness about human trafficking.

This is a smart and eye-opening initiative which I look forward to following in the coming months. Learn more at slaveryfootprint.org.

This post is a personal take on an entry that was originally written for the DDB Canada blog.

Updated January 6, 2012: This video below provides some great updates around how the project has been received.