Ashton Kutcher and Donald Trump's Anti-Trafficking Ad Was More Bizarre Than You Think

There are many questionable adverts out there and some have continued to draw speculation even years after its release. According to Newsweek, a public service ad released more than 12 years ago for the anti-trafficking charity co-founded by Ashton Kutcher is still confusing viewers and drawing backlash. The PSA video, which was released in 2011, was featured on the DNA Foundation's (currently known as Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children) official website back then. Kutcher and his ex-wife, Demi Moore, had founded the organization back in 2009.

The video was controversially titled 'Donald Trump is a Real Man,' and the campaign used a slogan that read "Real Men Don't Buy Girls." The campaign video featured Hollywood actors Jamie Foxx and Eva Longoria too. As the ad starts playing, former President Trump can be seen on the television as part of his reality series, The Apprentice.

Foxx settles on the couch and watches Trump, reaching for the remote control to open a beer bottle. “Real Men Know How to Use the Remote,” a grim voiceover announces. It follows with shots of a room adorned with framed portraits of other 'real men,' like Tom Selleck, Bruce Willis, and Harrison Ford. The ad concludes with Longoria caressing Trump's portrait and delivering a tagline that goes, "Donald Trump knows that real men don’t buy girls.” The video has been removed from the Thorn website since then. 

There were other celebrities featured in the anti-trafficking ads too and various campaigns titled "Real Men Know How to Use an Iron," "Real Men Know How to Shave," and "Real Men Know How to Make a Meal" were launched back then. "There is a general dumbing down that is going on and this is an example of dumbing down a social justice movement with the narrowest message possible. Those men who are buying girls and children are pedophiles; they're not going to be swayed by that campaign," human rights attorney Norma Ramos spoke about this campaign to Fox News back then. "They have got to have a campaign which is 'real men don't buy sex.' You have to sacrifice wanting to be cool for wanting to be effective."

Ramon, who served as the Deputy Secretary for Civil Rights under former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for three years, also criticized Trump's inclusion in the anti-trafficking campaign. "Donald Trump is CEO of a beauty pageant which simply fosters reducing women to sex objects," Ramos said, per the outlet. "Once you reduce a human being to a thing they become disposable, and putting him in this category of people, I would have chosen the men a little more carefully."

The anti-trafficking campaign was brought back to the public's attention when The New Republic published an article titled 'How the Anti-Trafficking Movement Gave Cover to Opportunistic Men.' The news outlet stated that since the initiation of Thorn, Kutcher's stature massively improved in the media. Ever since it began, Thorn, as per the outlet, 'has more often than not sounded more like a start-up than a human rights or advocacy organization.'

In a similar vein, the message of Kutcher's foundation and his kind remarks towards convicted friend and former co-star Danny Masterson after his rape arrest also garnered backlash. Masterson was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually assaulting two women, and Kutcher and his current wife Mila Kunis issued a public apology for a character letter they wrote in support of Masterson.