Imagine Yourself Homeless

Published April 06, 2009 @ 08:14PM PT

The message is simple: Before you turn away, put yourself in my place. If you live in the LA area, you may see these faceless, life-size cutouts popping up in LA's upscale shopping centers. The images are designed to make shoppers on the prowl for Fendi and Dolce stop and imagine themselves homeless, even if just for a fleeting second.

Here's what the blog Trends Updates has to say about this ad campaign:

Los Angeles has 70,000 homeless people on its streets. For this campaign some of these homeless people were asked to write the message on a blank card board along with the website address of Weingart Homeless Center. They were photographed holding these placards. These images later became life size cut-outs. The faces were removed and these realistic card board cut outs were placed in upscale shopping centers. It was just impossible to ignore these faceless homeless.

The campaign is sponsored by Weingart Homeless Center in LA.

Perhaps I'm skeptical, but I find the presence of real, actual homeless people suffering on the streets much more compelling than this particular campaign. Sure, the concept is unexpected and inventive. But in a city like LA, with its astronomical homeless population, I fear these cardboard cutouts will just blend right in with the real humans living on the streets.

Besides, I don't think there needs to be a narcissistic hook to get people concerned about homelessness. Isn't the issue compelling enough?

Do you think this marketing campaign will do more than entertain tweens with camera phones?

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Comments (3)

As a normal guy I want to say cool. As an honest marketer I must be real. This campaign does not fit the Weingart Center’s brand nor does it actually help the homeless cause.

The interesting thing about cool marketing is more often than not it isn’t effective. A high percentage of agencies winning a Clio each year (annual awards honoring creative advertising in package design, print, radio and television) find themselves facing a bankruptcy judge because their “creative” ad didn’t produce results!

I do like this campaign because I personally like all things hardly normal but I strongly believe Weingart could have spent their marketing budget a little better. In LA, the homeless are everywhere. We SEE them however, we choose to IGNORE them. Why would a cardboard standee help bring compassion to people’s hearts? And I must differ with Trends Updates and their comment “It was just impossible to ignore these faceless homeless” because the person who wrote that post probably ignored a REAL live homeless person in the parking lot.

Posted by Mark Horvath on 04/07/2009 @ 09:26PM PT
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We found this ad campaign to be creative and intriguing. At Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, we remind our supporters that homelessness can happen to anyone, and with the benefit of this stirring visual aid, perhaps that truth will be made real to many.

To hear the rest of our opinions about this campaign, visit our blog at http://bit.ly/DY64t.

Posted by Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida on 04/10/2009 @ 06:53AM PT
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Personally, I find that offensive. It perpetuates the stigmatized, stereotype of the dirty, ragtag, neglectful type of person as iconic of "the homeless". THAT is one of the worst influences the rest of us have to field, frankly.

Posted by SlumJack Homeless on 06/06/2009 @ 05:04PM PT
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Author

Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.