"would cause severe trauma to the real girls involved."
This seems hyperbolic. You can film it so that their faces aren't even shown, but focus on the leering men. That's how I would have done it, shown some examples and then moved on to a part with actors. But if you say no, fine I can accept that, but that still doesn't mean that they could not have done it better with the actors. That point stands, regardless what you think, I guarantee you there will be boys laughing at that part. Possibly even exactly because of the thing you wrote below ("how much is you actually thinking"). Suppose I truly was a person that doesn't believe this, then I inadvertently would have just shown you that the video isn't very effective, because I would be the prime target of the video. Right, you must admit that women who already know this shit is happening, who experienced it, are not the audience.
And this: "And if you think it's poorly done - hey, try and raise money and be involved in doing another video which is better done, hey?" surely is a joke. No one is allowed to critique something, unless they can do it better themselves?
"I wonder how much the 'this is staged' is you actually thinking 'this can't really happen like this, can it?'. It can, it does."
I wonder why despite me saying to not put words in my mouth, and you protesting that you are not, you now put thoughts in my head. What else do you want to tell me about myself? You are telling me that from your perspective it's brilliant and are questioning me, and yet when I tell you something from my perspective, that is suddenly up for scrutiny.
Look, in the end I never said the video or the idea of the video is bad, just that some parts felt too staged to me, making it ineffective. For what it's worth I really like the video and its message, and I am a great fan of Plan International, my parents have been sponsoring two children via them for over a decade now and they are doing wonderful stuff.