Mission Australia has recently conducted an awareness campaign called “Hush for homeless” with a motto “Say nothing and do something for homeless Australians”.
This is a very noble undertaking and Mission Australia has a long track record of helping these in need. However, on this occasion I felt the approach was oxymoronic. In Martin Place a large contingent of people wearing the campaign T-shirts were giving a loud performance, singing and feeling very good about themselves while a homeless man sat 5 meters from the stage totally ignored by the do-gooders. Hush!
Correction: As you can see from the comments below I have received an email from Patrick F. of Mission Australia reassuring me that the man was offered help by Mission Australia staff. Thanks Patrick. Good to know that my observation was just temporary.
“My name is Bryan not Barack Obama, she’s my customer – not Sara Palin”
It is not often that I would post the same image twice in my stories. However , this photo of the homeless man and a women has become part of dirty tricks in American presidential campaign.
Someone has doctored this image to portrait Barack Obama as the shoe shine man and Sara Palin as his customer. This altered image is being circulated via email in USA. The perpetrator of this plagiarism left my copyright notice, which contains the address of this website, thus implying it was my original work. This is quite a low act as it involuntarily involves me and my photographic work in American presidential campaign, which I honestly do not know much about nor do I follow it. I certainly do not have favourite views either for American Democrats or Republicans.
I would like to assure both senator Barack Obama and Alaska’s Governor Sarah Palin that the altered image has not been created, authorised, endorsed or distributed by me.
It is quite shameful someone had to escape to plagiarism and imply my involvement. Yes, I do have a copy of the doctored image but I will not publish it.
It has been a while since I have last written about Juan Mann and his continuous Free Hugs campaign.
Juan Mann is still enthused but I found him today scratching his head a bit, wondering where are all the people wanting his Free Hugs. It wasn’t long before people started to come up to him. The campaign always raises an eyebrow or two – Juan, it must be your generosity – charge them at least 5c so they know there is a value to a Free Hug.
Free Hugs Campaign video (music by Sick Puppies.net)
Plastic bags are recognisable issue when it comes to the environment. They do not degrade quick enough after use and often are the cause of wildlife deaths. Lush, a company which makes reusable bags was running this “Plastic bag monster” campaign in Pitt Street Mall. The reusable bags have been introduced to Australia now few years back but the use of plastic bags is still very high.
It is not often that I think of Telstra BigPond as “cool”. It is a reliable ISP. I use it for email and blogging. Today, BigPond had an advertising campaign in front of QVB (Queen Victoria Building, Sydney), which not only looked cool but in fact attracted quite a lot of notice. The promotion is called Suitables
