Talita launches new GTA V gaming experience based on real stories from victims of prostitution and sex trafficking

Cristina Blanaru Creativity, Gaming, ITC

In the GTA V city of Los Santos, prostitutes are exploited, beaten, robbed and killed with no rescue in sight. Until now. Swedish non-profit organization Talita has launched a new GTA V experience based on the real-life stories of women who have fallen victim to prostitution and sex trafficking. The alternative GTA story – Mission Talita – flips the script of the cult franchise, allowing gamers to embark on missions to save the prostitutes of Los Santos. The game also includes an exclusive radio channel featuring music by Swedish House Mafia feat. Sting. The goal is to raise awareness amongst young men – an audience that is notoriously hard to reach – and engage them in the fight to shift attitudes that fuel the demand for sexual services. 

Anna Sander, co-founder of Talita:

2024 marks Talita’s twentieth anniversary and today’s launch of Mission Talita goes to show our continued dedication to finding new ways of bringing visibility to the severe situations that far too many women all around the world face daily (…) With GTA being one of the world’s most played and streamed games, the launch of Mission Talita acts as a trojan horse that allows us to come into contact with an audience whose help we need to create meaningful and long-lasting change

By downloading the Mission Talita mod, GTA V players get access to four new, fully playable, missions based on the true stories about Carmen, Bianca, Emmy, and Anastasija – women that Talita has saved from prostitution and sex trafficking between 2017 and 2023. 

All missions take place on the familiar streets of Los Santos, but in contrast to the regular gameplay in which prostitutes are exploited, beaten, robbed, and even killed, Mission Talita changes the narrative by familiarizing players with the story of each woman, before setting them off on a mission to help the women out of prostitution. With this approach, players are given insight into the severity of the situations that millions of women face every day and what Talita does to help them. 

Stephanie Moradi and Caroline Andersson, creatives at Swedish advertising agency Åkestam Holst.

The possibility of purchasing sexual services in video games is a common phenomenon that, over the years, has become increasingly graphic and detailed. The fact that there’s a place where young men, and women, are purchasing sex every day was an uncomfortable but important insight in order to reach a target audience that’s notoriously difficult to reach,

Mission Talita is based on an idea from Åkestam Holst, the Swedish pro-bono ad agency of Talita. The mod has been developed by the talented GTA enthusiast FelixTheBlackCat, with support from Vxruz_Danz. The ambition has been to replicate core gameplay elements from GTA V to guarantee an authentic gaming experience. The custom-made in-game Radio Talita includes music from Swedish House Mafia feat. Sting, Salvatore Ganacci, and several other artists. By tuning in, players can enjoy a curated stream of in-game music and facts about Talita’s work. 

Mission Talita can be downloaded through the campaign site missiontalita.com. The site also features the stories of the women on which the game is based, along with global facts and statistics about prostitution and sex trafficking. Visitors can also choose to support Talita’s work through donations or by purchasing exclusive merch from which all proceeds go to supporting their continued work. 

Talita is a non-profit organization founded by Anna Sander and Josephine Appelqvist. They help women out of prostitution and trafficking for sexual purposes and into a functioning life. The work focuses on prevention, outreach, and rehabilitation and they operate in Sweden, Mongolia, Romania, Kenya, and the Philippines. 

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5) is one of the best-selling video games of all time with over 195 million units sold worldwide since its 2013 release. Despite being over a decade old, it remains a top-streamed game on Twitch, with 177 million hours viewed in January 2024. The gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can complete missions within the fictional city of Los Santos. Over the years GTA 5 has been criticized for its excessive violence, sexualization, and misogynistic portrayal of women. Prostitutes have been present in all GTA games since GTA 3. After years of speculations, the upcoming GTA 6 was revealed in an official trailer in December 2023. GTA 6 is expected to launch in 2025. 

Credit list:

Talita Sweden: 

  • Anna Sander, Co-founder
  • Josephine Appelqvist, Co-founder 

Åkestam Holst NoA: 

  • Caroline Andersson, Art Director
  • Stephanie Moradi, Copywriter
  • Joakim Khoury, Creative Director
  • Natalie Pehar N’doye, Client Director
  • Jenny Kaiser, CEO
  • Hugo Wallmo, Head of Design
  • Stina Hansson, Planner
  • Harald Larsson, Planner
  • John Janér, Researcher
  • Linda Bryttmar, Account Manager
  • Anna Nollendorfs, Account Manager
  • Mattias Nordenham, Production Designer
  • Petur Mogensen, Film Producer
  • Sanna Wikman, Producer
  • Nisse Axman, Film Production
  • Christoffer Näll, 3D
  • Gabriel Francke Rodau, PR

North Kingdom NoA: 

  • Nicolas White, Front End Developer
  • Nina Amjadi, CEO

Mod development: 

  • FelixTheBlackCat, Mod developer 
  • Vxruz_Danz, Mod developer 

Universal Music Publishing: 

  • Jonathan Fröberg, Creative Manager 

Radio Talita: 

  • Navid & Mårten, Radio Producers 

PR & distribution: 

  • Lamin Sonko, PR Specialist
  • Frame

Post-production: 

  • Andreas Andersson, Sound Designer, Ponytail 

Event & merch: 

  • Esportal Inferno Online Stockholm 
  • Sneakersnstuff

NoA Connect: 

  • Jennie Rönnskär Wilén, Digital Analyst