A social experiment carried out by The Pilion Trust found that the public will tell someone off for saying ‘fuck the poor’, but are unlikely to stop to help the very same group.
Created by Publicis, the campaign saw a man wearing a billboard saying ‘fuck the poor’ on the streets of London, and being told off by multiple passersby.
However, when he flipped the sign over to read ‘help the poor, no-one stopped to give money. This is promoted through the campaign strapline: “We know you care. Please care enough to give.” Savvas Panas, the chief executive of the Pilion Trust, said: “As a charity we have been severely affected by the nationwide decrease in charitable donations (20 per cent) and government cuts (60 per cent). We understand that some may be shocked by this footage. We are more offended however, that people across the United Kingdom are living in adverse poverty."
The campaign footage is being unveiled on YouTube today, and will be in cinemas from later this month.Publicis ECD Andy Bird said: “The Pilion Trust is a small front line charity without the budget to make itself heard in paid-for media, and also loses out on High Street donations, so we helped them to make a film that highlighted the discrepancy between peoples attitude when confronted with injustice and bigotry about poverty, and then their apathy when asked directly to help do something about it - donate.”
