'Panhandlertising' Just Doesn't Have The Same Ring

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Schram Commentary: 'Panhandlertising' Just Doesn't Have The Same Ring

 

August 15, 2005

 

By Ken Schram 

 

SEATTLE - OK, let's make sure I've got this right:

 

Some enterprising guy gets the idea to have panhandlers help market his Web site. He pays them to paste his marketing message to their cardboard "GIVE ME MONEY" signs. He calls it "Bum-vertising." Uh-oh. What, is this guy new in town? Didn't he know that the phrase would seriously tick off the Legion of Seattle Do-Gooders? To the officiously pompous, nothing says politically incorrect faster than a heavily weighted word like "bum." One such do-gooder was left sputtering that because panhandlers (not bums, mind you) are poor, homeless beggars (much better description than "bum"), that they have no choice but to seize the entrepreneur's "exploitive" offer." A perplexing point there, doncha think? I mean, you know the world's gone to hell in a hand basket when someone starts paying panhandlers (don't even THINK "bum!") to do something instead of just tossing coins in their cup for doing nothing. What could possibly be worse than that! Well, maybe one thing. That would be when the Legion of Seattle Do-Gooders take it upon themselves to think for, and speak on behalf of, people who are probably grateful for the extra cash they're taking in simply for adding something to the sign they're holding up anyway. Yeah, I think I got that right. Want to share your thoughts with Ken Schram? You can e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com

So, what do you think?