AUSTIN, Tex. — Which product at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) technology conference received more attention than perhaps any other?
Homeless people as wireless transmitters.
A marketing agency touched off a wave of criticism and debate when it hired members of the local homeless population to walk around carrying mobile Wi-Fi devices, offering conferencegoers Internet access in exchange for donations.
BBH Labs, the innovation unit of the international marketing agency BBH, outfitted 13 volunteers from a homeless shelter with the devices, business cards and T-shirts bearing their names:
“I’m Clarence, a 4G Hotspot.”
They were told to go to the most densely packed areas of the conference, which has become a magnet for those who want to chase the latest in technology trends.
Click Image To Enlarge
The smartphone-toting, social-networking crowds often overwhelm cellular networks in the area, creating a market that BBH Labs hoped to serve with the “Homeless Hotspots” project, which it called a “charitable experiment.” It paid each participant $20 a day, and they were also able to keep whatever customers donated in exchange for the wireless service.
But as word of the project spread on the ground and online, it hit a nerve among many who said that turning down-and-out people into wireless towers was exploitative and discomfiting.
Tim Carmody, a blogger at Wired, described the project as “completely problematic” and sounding like “something out of a darkly satirical science-fiction dystopia.”
A commenter on the BBH Labs blog offered mock praise for the project, then complained that
“My homeless hotspot keeps wandering out of range, and it’s ruining all my day trades!”
On Monday, the project’s scheduled last day, BBH Labs was scrambling to explain itself.
Saneel Radia, the director of innovation at BBH Labs who oversaw the project, said the company was not taking advantage of the homeless volunteers. He said that the company had had success with other such experiments, including one in which it gave homeless people in New York cellphones and Twitter accounts as a way to call attention to their plight.
Homeless Hotspots locations in downtown Austin, Texas (Click Image To Enlarge)
Mr. Radia said he modeled the hot spot project after the street newspapers that homeless people sell for a dollar.
He said.
“We saw it as a means to raise awareness by giving homeless people a way to engage with mainstream society and talk to people. The hot spot is a way for them to tell their story.”
Mitchell Gibbs, the director of development at Front Steps, the shelter that houses the project volunteers, said he advised Mr. Radia on how best to set up the program. He said he was surprised by all the criticism of the project, which he said had inspired an “entrepreneurial spirit” among its homeless participants.
Mr. Gibbs said.
“It’s an employment opportunity, regardless of who is offering it.”
Click Image To Enlarge
The human hot spots seemed unconcerned as well. One volunteer, Clarence Jones, 54, said he was originally from New Orleans and became homeless in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Jones said.
“Everyone thinks I’m getting the rough end of the stick, but I don’t feel that. I love talking to people and it’s a job. An honest day of work and pay.”
But the program’s critics zeroed in on the divide between its impoverished vendors and Internet-bubble customers.
Adam Hanft, chief executive of the marketing advisory firm Hanft Projects, said that even if the effort was well intended, it seemed to turn a blind eye to that disconnect. He said.
“There is already a sense that the Internet community has become so absurdly self-involved that they don’t think there’s any world outside of theirs.”
COMMENTARY: This is a great example of Guerilla marketing gone awry. Well intended as it was, it was criticized for being exploitive of the homeless, and deservedly so. Here are my reasons: First, I question the feasibility of hiring homeless people to act as WIFI hotspots. Second, WIFI has a very limited range. Homeless hotspots has a 20-ft range. Third, homeless hotspots participants have to find a place hangout like a Starbucks or fast food restaurant as a homebase, or just stand in the middle of the sidewalk. Some establishments may not want to attract homeless people because this might turnoff their paying customers. You can't even pass out flyers or singup voters in front of a Starbucks. Fourth, paying homeless people $20.00 a day to serve as a wandering WIFI hotspot is not exactly what I call "fair" pay in my opinion. I know of homeless and students who make minimum hourly wage for holding up "Sale" and "Going out of business" signs on street corners. Fifth, other companies may try to copy this idea to promote their products or services on the "cheap," by hiring homeless people. This is already going on right now. Sixth, bringing attention to the homeless problem in America is not something most people care about. A lot of people ignore the homeless, stereotype them as pandhandlers, lazy, drinkers, infected, and so forth. So before you embark on similar schemes that could be seen as exploitation of homeless or disabled workers, think again. This was really a bad idea to use homeless people in this fashion.
Courtesy of an article dated March 12, 2012 appearing in The New York Times
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