View this image '
hardlynormal.posterous.com
At SXSW, the annual tech startup conference in Austin, 13 homeless men are hanging around the conference center wearing white shirts that say 'I'm _____, a 4G hotspot.' Each is carrying a wireless internet device, and for a PayPal donation, will provide conference-goers with internet access for as long as they want. . The men are part of a campaign called 'Homeless Hotspots,' devised by a marketing firm called BBH. It effectively debuted today, and started backfiring immediately.
The first person to flag the stunt as a littleoff was the New York Times's David Gallagher, who called the plan it 'a little dystopian.' Since then, the Internet's been aghast: The story has been both amplified and deprived of context, inspiring thousands of knee-jerk responses. It's really not going over very wellat all.
We did this, people. What happened? America happened. RT @AntDeRosa: Homeless being used as WiFi hotspots at#SXSWbit.ly/zgWAtI â€' Melissa Gira Grant (@melissagira)March 12, 2012 Twitter: @melissagira
Homeless hotspots at#homelesshotspots hits all the wrong notes.#homelesshotspots â€' Peter Atherton (@pgatherton)March 12, 2012 Twitter: @pgatherton
1/2
The only other human-beings-as-infrastructure project at SXSW comes from FedEx, which has peoplewalking around with suits covered of live USB charging ports. It's inspired plenty of scoffs, but nothing major. Homeless Hotspots, on the other hand, is a full blown PR disaster for BBH. But some important voices are still missing from the conversation - the voices of the Hotspots themselves. Update:An Interview with Melvin, one of the SXSW Homeless Hotspots
Read more:http://buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-sxsw-homeless-hotspots-everyones-flippi Organizers Defend 'Homeless Hotspots' at SXSW
2/2 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)