NEWS: Muse Globally Premiere 'MK Ultra' as Awareness Video

MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) and rock band Muse, in partnership with USAID, have released a music video that dramatically highlights the dangers and impact of human trafficking.   

Produced for the band’s track MK Ultra from the platinum selling album The Resistance, the video premiered globally across all of MTV’s properties on-air and on-line today (September 17, 2010). This video is the third in a series of award winning music video collaborations to highlight the dangers and impact of human trafficking that launched in 2008 with Radiohead for their track All I Need, and was followed up with The Killers in 2009 with a video by David Slade (Twilight: Eclipse) for the song Goodnight, Travel Well.

“We feel honoured to be a part of this important movement to end modern day slavery. It is unacceptable that people are deprived of the most fundamental right to be free”, said Muse. They added, “We hope that using our music in the context of such powerful images inspires people to get involved in combating this cruel trade.”  

This music video represents an innovative and creative way to fuse musical content with MTV’s pro-social messaging. The MK Ultra video was released globally across all of MTV’s platforms in 168 countries. It was expected to have the potential to reach more than 500 million households worldwide, delivering a powerful message to audiences about modern day slavery. 'MK Ultra' will be serviced to NZ radio w/c 20 September. 

“Through our MTV EXIT campaign, MTV has been raising awareness around the issue of human trafficking and exploitation, a tragic form of modern-day slavery,” said Bill Roedy, Chairman and Chief Executive, MTV Networks International (MTVNI). “Human trafficking is a very complex issue that is a problem for the whole of society and one which MTV has been campaigning against since 2004. We’re pleased to be collaborating with Muse in this third part of our music video series which will help educate audiences around the world about this terrible crime which affects in excess of 12.3 million people worldwide and the ongoing need for us to continue to fight against it.”

“Muse is taking MTV EXIT to a new level and bringing critical human trafficking messages to a global audience”, said Olivier Carduner, USAID’s Regional Mission Director for Asia. “By using a variety of mediums – music videos, anime, film, and online content – as well as live concerts, we are reaching vast numbers of young people, those most at risk of being trafficked,” Carduner said. “This campaign capitalizes on Muse’s and other bands’ and movie stars’ images and MTV’s brand appeal to transform people’s views about trafficking and provide a platform for NGOs, governments and law enforcement agencies to prevent trafficking and assist victims.”