diff --git a/slugify/__init__.py b/slugify/__init__.py
index 9ddd452..b8ae062 100644
--- a/slugify/__init__.py
+++ b/slugify/__init__.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def slugify(s, ok=SLUG_OK, lower=True, spaces=False, only_ascii=False, space_rep
     if not spaces:
         if space_replacement and space_replacement not in ok:
             space_replacement = ok[0] if ok else ''
-        new = re.sub('[%s\s]+' % space_replacement, space_replacement, new)
+        new = re.sub(r'[%s\s]+' % space_replacement, space_replacement, new)
     if lower:
         new = new.lower()