When BBH Labs hired homeless folks to serve as WiFi hot spots at this year’s SXSW conference, it garnered national media attention and kicked off a debate as to whether the project was dehumanizing or beneficial to those involved.
We polled MarketingMag.ca visitors to find out what they thought of the idea. Here’s what they told us.
BBH Labs hired homeless people to be WiFi hot spots at SXSW. Thoughts?
• Helpful. They get paid, perform a service and it raises awareness of an issue – 47.2%
• Shameful. We should be helping these folks, not using them – 35.8%
• Pointless. Who wants to stand awkwardly next to a human hot spot? – 12%
The remaining 5% of respondents who voted “other” offered a range of opinions. Their verbatim answers ranged from calling the project “exploitative” to questioning whether the topic would be so contentious “if it were broke students?”
Is this a case of “any publicity is good publicity?” Should the concept surface at other events? Keep the debate going in our comment section.
