Posted on 06/15/2003 1:34:02 AM PDT by sarcasm
PORTLAND -- Peter Schoeff, a 20-year-old homeless man, woke up in an abandoned house and planned to spend his day Dumpster diving and asking for spare change.
"We dig in trash, but usually, you can't find anything good in the trash," he said. "Just half-eaten sandwiches, cold french fries, crumbs in a bag of chips."
So a slice of hot, fresh pizza dripping with cheese seemed like a good deal -- especially since all it required of him was holding a sign for about 40 minutes. The sign said: "Pizza Schmizza paid me to hold this sign instead of asking for money."
In what advertising industry watchers said is a first, a Portland pizza-by-the-slice company has hired homeless people off downtown sidewalks to take part in a guerrilla marketing campaign. They are paid in pizza, soda and a few dollars.
"I think it's a fair trade," said Schoeff, sitting on a backpack by a trash bin on a bustling street corner. "We're career panhandlers, that's the only other way we can get money."
The signs were meant to be humorous, said Andre Jehan, the owner and founder of Pizza Schmizza, a 26-restaurant company operating in Oregon and Washington.
"People don't have to feel guilty, while still appreciating the person is homeless. It's a gesture of kindness more than anything," said Jehan, sitting at an outdoor table at one of his downtown Portland restaurants. A dozen feet away, a homeless teenager squatted under an awning and asked passers-by for spare change.
Kipp Cheng, a spokesman for the American Association of Advertising Agencies, said he'd never heard of the tactic before, but wasn't surprised. From the sandwich board to cigarette girls to aerial banners, companies are forever searching for creative means to convey their messages to consumers, he said.
The search has become more frenetic lately due to what's known in advertising circles as "ad clutter," -- the fragmentation of traditional outlets like television and newspapers into cable channels and the Internet and the search for alternatives.
A small ad firm in London, Cunning Stunts Communications Ltd., has recruited students to wear temporary tattoos on their foreheads while hanging out at bars or trendy shops -- for an hourly fee.
Sony Ericcson, the cell phone company, has hired models to lounge at tourist attractions and play with a mobile phone that doubles as a camera, to make the gadget look attractive.
Beach N' Billboards Inc., a New Jersey company, used a steamroller-like machine to imprint ads for Snapple iced tea on the beach.
Schmizza has also tried handing out fake parking tickets with pizza coupons, and putting up fake election placards reading "Elect Schmizza for Dinner."
The homeless were a new advertising vehicle -- and an opportunity to help, Jehan said.
"I'd love to see Les Schwab tires sponsor homeless wheelchairs," he said, adding he's proud to see Pizza Schmizza's name associated with helping the homeless.
But critics of ad clutter are not impressed.
Gary Ruskin, director of Portland-based Commercial Alert, a nonprofit advertising watchdog group founded by Ralph Nader, said homeless people acting as billboards should be paid minimum wage.
"If they don't get minimum wage, this is exploitation," he said.
The ads blur the gritty reality of homelessness with a society dominated by corporate images and brand names, Ruskin said.
"People don't want to get hammered with an ad every time they turn their head. Most advertising is either somewhat of a lie or deceptive, and it's an assault on our attention."
Jehan said the idea sprang not as a stroke of marketing inspiration, but from the guilt he felt passing homeless people begging for money.
"I got tired of not being able to make eye contact with these people. I thought, 'What skills could they have?' Holding a sign was an obvious one," he said.
Nate Sandall, an analyst at Standard Insurance, grinned as he passed Schoeff and his sign.
"It's unusual, it's creative. At least they aren't asking me for change," he said. "Now, if every business did this, it would get old in a hurry."
Headlines we'd like to see.
Wouldn't wages effect their 'career panhandler' status?
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