Saturday, September 20, 2008

marketing compassion

The naked pastor posts this very interesting video. The film, which was an award winner at Cannes, raises an interesting question about compassion and how we see people. It has a particular resonance with caring for the poor, the disabled, the disenfranchised, the people on the edge of society and our response to them. As David says:
How do we give? What motivates us to give? What inspires us to be generous? What are the underlying issues we have with money that we aren’t free to give it away without some kind of poignant provocation? These are the questions that provoke me. But perhaps you might accuse me of being in the same predicament as the blind man: this is beautiful, and I’m too blind to enjoy it.
The film is less than 6min long... watch it... it's worth it

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good film although I'm not sure I think its that realistic. I'm not sure changing the wording on the sign really would have that much change in peoples perspective.

I think most people don't give largely because of 1 of 2 reasons.
1. They think it's someone elses responsibility (i.e. the government)
2. They think there might be better ways of helping them then just giving them money (that might be used on drugs etc).

The sad part is I often use #2 as my excuse, however I almost always end up doing nothing as an alternative.

klompengirl said...

I think there is a 3rd reason too... because we tend to think the person who is asking for help doesn't "deserve" it. That somehow they are to blame... that they should be able to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and get a job.

Sadly, the Poor Laws are still with us today.

oncoffee said...

I think we use all 3 & probably other reasons... excuses for not giving/helping
Scott you are right... a word change probably wouldn't make all that much difference... did you notice the marketing guy didn't give any money... but maybe the film makes us a little bit more aware of needs around us