Anger as model used as face of homeless
Billboard ads designed to raise awareness around homelessness have angered those living on the streets by using models as the face of the campaign.
The adverts for Auckland-based charity Lifewise have been plastered across the city’s streets and buses over the past week.
They show a young man sitting on the ground with jeans, Converse trainers and t-shirt under the slogan ‘yes I am homeless, no I am not worthless’. Another shows a young woman sitting cross-legged with jeans and a hoodie.
Lifewise said the two people were not homeless and their photos were sourced from an advertising agency.
The ads have been criticised by homeless people who said they were ‘‘misleading’’ and a ‘‘kick in the guts’’.
‘‘They (Lifewise) haven’t been scared to use homeless people as part of their campaigns in the past, when it suits them,’’ a homeless transgender woman known as Six, who has lived on the streets of Auckland for four years, said.
‘‘Many homeless are quite jaded by that. They’ll see this as another kick in the guts.’’
Lifewise chief executive Moira Lawler said the adverts were designed to get people talking and she was glad they achieved that.
In this case it’s clearly fake. It’s a bald-faced lie. Six
Of the choice to use a model rather than a homeless person it was a case of ‘‘damned if you do damned if you don’t’’, she said.
‘‘We’re acutely aware of not speaking for people and not using people’s experiences of being homeless in a kind of vicarious way.’’
Lawler said they did not approach any homeless people to be involved in this campaign out of privacy concerns.
‘‘For someone who is struggling with homelessness and is trying to turn their life around, it is not ideal to have their image on posters and billboards in the city. The image you see in the ad is meant to be a representation of such a person.’’
But Six said the campaign was a missed opportunity.
‘‘There have been cases where someone’s homeless and is in the media and someone has seen them, recognised them from school and offered them a job or thought, ‘god I didn’t know they were homeless, maybe I can help’.
‘‘In this case it’s clearly fake. It’s a bald-faced lie.’’