Kensington & Chelsea council ad claims giving to beggars will contribute to their death…
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has come under fire for launching an ad campaign suggesting that kind donations to homeless people is actually harming them by funding drug and alcohol addiction.
The ‘hard-hitting’ outdoor execution claimed that financing beggars with loose change "could contribute to [their] death" adding that the recipient is probably “not homeless” and likely to spend the money on “alcohol or drugs”.
The campaign focused on "better" ways to donate money to the homeless with its Alternative Giving programme - instead the campaign sowed a distrust of those most in need, and many viewers picked up on the issue. Without subtely, the campaign urged charitable to instead donate to local charities including St Mungo's Broadway, Look Ahead Housing and Care, No Second Night Out and Blenheim though its website.
Joanna Gardner, Abington Councillor, said: “The council and police work together to combat begging and offer help to those in genuine need, including advice on where to go to combat addiction and places to obtain accommodation.”
Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council told the Huffington Post: "The posters reflect our approach of seeking to help genuinely vulnerable people find accommodation and stop using drugs or alcohol. We want to encourage people who wish to give money to homeless people to donate to local charities, rather than risk feeding a drug or alcohol habit.”
Some social media users took exception to the campaign's sentiment.
Interesting ad from the council has gone up all over Chelsea pic.twitter.com/9uFUXzaT73
— Ned Donovan (@Ned_Donovan) August 20, 2015
@fuckreece @Ned_Donovan People don't realise that anybody can become homeless if a few things go wrong together. It's awful mate
— Jake Moody (@_JakeMoody) August 20, 2015
Council says this ad is 'hard hitting' -never knew mind-blowing ignorance equated to hard-hitting these days http://t.co/2fJC5aEMXM
— John Evans (@seanoheimhin) August 21, 2015
@RBKC your ad campaign telling pple not to give money to homeless is a disgrace. Spend the money helping them. Charities do not agree #shame
— imposter syndrome (@cicerobevin) August 21, 2015
The RBKC in return referred those complaining to a statement on its website.
Our anti-begging campaign asks people to help in a different way as we explain here @huffpostuk @thamesreach http://t.co/ky43J8qN2L
— RBKC (@RBKC) August 25, 2015