Shocked Shoppers Get a Taste of Hardship

In this clever stunt created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for low-income relief group Tipping Point, San Francisco residents got a taste of the privations endured by many citizens living in poverty.

The tech revolution has generated huge wealth for many San Francisco residents yet one in ten families in the Bay Area live on $24,300 or less.  This is five times less than the average wage in the region and thus, to them, basic items are five times harder to afford.  

The experiential campaign #PovertyLinePrices includes a ‘specials’ day at a grocery store at which all the prices were inflated to simulate life on the poverty line.  A two-minute film shows bemused shoppers balking at paying daft amounts for goods, such as $27 for a pack of butter.

The film has been paired with an interactive tool that enables visitors to see how much more expensive rent and other necessities would feel were their own income below the poverty line. The film and event featured a call to action to help break their cycle of poverty.

Rich Silverstein, partner and co-chairman at the agency, said the goal was to bring about empathy for low-income residents without making their plight seem pitiful or shaming viewers into feeling bad.

He said the agency tried hard to avoid some of the clichés that sometimes infect charity advertising of this kind.