Is Giving Money to Homeless on the Street a Bad Idea?

Creative direct marketing agency Soul has launched a hard-hitting campaign on behalf of homeless charity, The Connection at St. Martin-in-the-Fields to highlight some of the issues associated with giving money to homeless people on the street.

The campaign, which launches in August, uses a range of stark monochromatic images; one is of weathered hands reaching out for spare change; another an anonymous body laid out in the morgue, accompanied by bold language. The creative aims to highlight how giving money to people on the street could actually be contributing to their deaths, as it may easily be spent on drugs and alcohol.

The campaign includes posters, beermats, take-one and leaflets and will appear in pubs and shops throughout the Westminster area.

A dedicated app - created by Soul to support the campaign, that allows people to donate directly and easily to The Connection will launch later in the year.

The campaign has also been backed by The Safer WestEnd Partnership, an initiative set up to make central London a safer and more secure place to work and explore.

Beki Winters, head of outreach at The Connection, said: “It takes a lot for people to donate to charity, and what’s required is a campaign that stops people in their tracks, making them take notice. That’s exactly what Soul’s work achieves – it brings home the message that giving spare change to homeless people on the streets doesn’t help and can in fact lead to their deaths.”

Shaun Moran, creative director at Soul, said: “Our campaign aims to drive awareness of a very important new initiative in a hard-hitting and eye-catching way. To encourage a change in behaviour, people need to see something that will drive home the message, quickly and effectively. We’ve highlighted the issues around homelessness using frank and somewhat disturbing imagery, informing people of the best way to offer support. Importantly too we are bringing attention to a charity that deserves to be recognised for the great work it does.”