Spotted this video earlier – it’s quite emotional! His reaction after he has the money is incredible.

(part of me thinks that this is exploiting the homeless guy for video views, but he got $1000 out of it, so it seems win/win to me)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lki_IeM6bQ[/video]

Bit dusty, sort of exploitation but who cares!

Shelter’s one of the most deserving charities we have; just saying.

Spent one night ‘homeless’ as a yoof. Flippin’ awful. One night.

Beautiful.

Shelter’s one of the most deserving charities we have; just saying.

I used to think that until i got a call from a call centre telling me my £12 a month direct debit was “ok” but £20 would be better. I understand it would be but £12 was all I could give. Shame really.

Some really good poeple out there working with the homeless, I hope his money was spent well.

I used to think that until i got a call from a call centre telling me my £12 a month direct debit was “ok” but £20 would be better. I understand it would be but £12 was all I could give. Shame really.

Yes, that’s very short sighted. Shame.

I used to think that until i got a call from a call centre telling me my £12 a month direct debit was “ok” but £20 would be better. I understand it would be but £12 was all I could give. Shame really.

Seriously? That’s poor form. I wonder if they are directed to “upsell” donations?

I wonder if they are directed to “upsell” donations?

Most of them farm out their list of donors to 3rd parties who get paid by results on upsells.

We stopped doing direct debit donations to a number of charities because of the amount of marketing they did to us. I realise that like any operation you stand more chance of ‘selling’ to people who’ve bought from you before but it just got too much.

Red Cross were the worst.

Back to the OP: Good stuff 🙂

I wonder if they are directed to “upsell” donations?

Without doubt – just a poor quality script in this case I guess :(.

That video does indeed make me happy 🙂

I realise that like any operation you stand more chance of ‘selling’ to people who’ve bought from you before but it just got too much.

Yep – it’s horrible. Unless the original donation was quite high all of the money can get spent on remarketing :(. I fight this constantly but idea that if you have shown interest once you’ll do it again is strong with some folks

$1000? that`s a lot of cheap booze

$1000? that`s a lot of cheap booze

I despair sometimes.. 🙄
🙁

I wonder how the guy is getting on now – did the money do him any good?

did the money do him any good

for a minute there, it made him feel like the world wasn’t just here to kick him in the teeth on a daily basis.

I’d say that was worth a $1000 of anyone’s money?

That moment looked like it meant more to him than anything I’ve ever got spending the same on a set of wheels or forks for a bike.

Unless he was found dead in a dmupster the following day I’m not going to judge him on whether he chose to spend it on booze or life improving goods and accomodation. His money, his choice.

It was moving that his first thought was to share it with the man who gave him the ticket..
Not run whooping and hollering to the nearest offy..
Even if they have nothing, some people have more than people with everything..

It was moving that his first thought was to share it with the man who gave him the ticket..
Not run whooping and hollering to the nearest offy..

This.

“This is all i need”

Need vs greed, even at a time like that. Better man than me and almost everyone I know.

Huge karma to the guy. I hope it was a sign that his luck has changed properly, not for just one moment.

“This is all i need”

I never get the dusty eye thing that people are always on about on here, but those words floored me. Spent a lot of time thinking about that.

I don’t get it. Yea, snice and all that, but why didn’t they just give him $1000 if that’s what they wanted to do? At the beginning it makes it seems like they going to “trick” him.

We stopped doing direct debit donations to a number of charities because of the amount of marketing they did to us.

I cancelled my Oxfam DD, as my wife was being harassed virtually daily to start donating. Some of their ‘selling’ techniques were disgraceful. One involved asking if she was a mother, then asking how would she like it if our kids were starving to death.

I complained directly to Oxfam more than once, and I heard nothing back.

Well, if he is being exploited for video views then it’s much better than ‘Bumfights’ a decade ago.

Great reaction from the fella.

One involved asking if she was a mother, then asking how would she like it if our kids were starving to death.

Did you tell them you would have probably decided against having kids if you were starving to death?

I don’t get it. Yea, snice and all that, but why didn’t they just give him $1000 if that’s what they wanted to do? At the beginning it makes it seems like they going to “trick” him.

To give the guy a moment of feeling that for once his luck was in. I’ve never won any money before, but I suspect it’s a pretty good feeling. Handing a homeless person $1000 in cash might make him a bit worried!

Also, it is of course to generate video views, but in this case I can’t help but feel the guy did not bad out of it!

Love it. I wish more people would help out the homeless in a meaningful way. Would be great if there was a shift in the way they are perceived, as people in an awful situation rather than ghosts or nuisances. I guess though, the game wouldn’t function correctly without shunning the losers/non-participants. Very sad.

“This is all i need”

Need vs greed, even at a time like that. Better man than me and almost everyone I know.

Huge karma to the guy. I hope it was a sign that his luck has changed properly, not for just one moment.

+1 🙂

Why is that moving? For it to be moving then surely it has to be different, profoundly so (or it is just trite), to our expectation….

So yeah it’s nice for the guy to get the money, but he’s being used for entertainment purposes and to make the guy giving the money look good, video go viral (make money?) etc.

It’s all a bit weird to me, just give the guy the money, off camera and say have a nice day, instead of LOOK AT WHAT A NICE GUY I AM AND HOW REALLY NICE HOMELESS PEOPLE REALLY ARE.

I reckon the homeless guy will work out that it was all contrived, and then he might wonder how he feels about that, being treated like an idiot basically “here, I don’t have any money, but I do have this lottery ticket you can have, how about we go and check if you’ve won anything”.

Feels wrong wrong wrong, like I said, he should have just walked up to him and said “I want to do something nice for someone and I want it to be you, here, take this envelope and have a nice day, bye”.

Wonder how much 6 million views has earned him?

Wonder how much 6 million views has earned him?

maybe it earned him $1000, if so would that answer your other questions?

No.

Why is that moving? For it to be moving then surely it has to be different, profoundly

What is moving is that when someone who has absolutely nothing is standing with $1,000 in his hand, his immediate reaction is to share it and claims that he doesn’t need it all.

The guy’s reaction is rare and lovely.

Otherwise there’s deceit, manipulation. commercialism etc…

ok nick, i can pretty much guarantee there is a homeless person within a mile of you right now, so why dont you

just give the guy the money, off camera and say have a nice day

Otherwise there’s deceit, manipulation. commercialism etc…

Part of me agrees with this (i.e. as a result of him setting all this up, he has made a fair bit of money on youtube). But then where does that leave us with any publicised good deed? Surely all big corporate donations are driven by similar motivations?

It’s a tricky one, but I’m struggling to see the negatives here for the homeless guy, so although I agree with the point that the youtube guy is doing this primarily for his own gain, the end result for the vulnerable party is a good one.

If all of those negative traits you mentioned manifested themselves in a similar way to this “good deed”, the world would probably be a better place.

Ha! Nick says pretty much the same as me and gets flack for it. 😆 I haven’t got a $1000 spare, so I couldn’t give it away. Also, I’m not in the slightest bit charitable.

What is moving is that when someone who has absolutely nothing is standing with $1,000 in his hand, his immediate reaction is to share it and claims that he doesn’t need it all.

Why wouldn’t that be his reaction?

ok nick, i can pretty much guarantee there is a homeless person within a mile of you right now, so why dont you just give the guy the money, off camera and say have a nice day

But how would you know if I do/don’t?

Put a smile on my face thanks, shows just how people who have little are often the first to share it!

Homeless man winning $1000 – guaranteed to make you happy!

Nothing, of any nature, has that guarantee on STW. Which this thread has duly confirmed.

Looks like he is making a decent amount of money from it.

But the homeless man’s reaction is nice all the same.

Looks like he is making a decent amount of money from it.

Now that’s what I call exploitation!

can you really make that much via youtube?

what do you people really want to see? i’m sure i could arrange some naked midget fights….

Do you think the homeless dude gives a rat’s ass whether he’s being “exploited”? This wasn’t one-way traffic, he benefits, they benefit.

What is moving is that when someone who has absolutely nothing is standing with $1,000 in his hand, his immediate reaction is to share it and claims that he doesn’t need it all.

I’m with you. I get all of the cynical analytical stuff but that was a great moment – really