Welcome to the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon. A gentrified area of the city that is home to Wieden+Kennedy. Lots of new lofts, shops and businesses have made this part of the city full of activity. Along with this activity and commerce comes the canvasser. Greenpeace, voting initiatives, solicitations for a myriad of social movements and non-profits. All of these causes are valid and important to the world we live in. There’s just something about the way some of these folks choose to make their statement.
With Whole Foods a mere block away, a large majority of us go there for lunch and whatnot daily. Powell’s Books is pratically a library of all kinds of printed materials that are indispensable for feeding our creative minds. To get to either of these places from W+K, you have to cross “The Canvas Zone”.
Sometimes a person can get “Greenpeaced” 4 or 5 times a day. Dealing with this day in and day out can be unnerving when you simply want to get something to eat.
The founders of the Pearl District Philanthropic Society have made a small business card you can employ when approached by someone canvassing for their cause. The card simply states:
I know you’re just doing your job,
but the methods you’ve been asked to use are manipulative and make me less trustful of friendliness in general
and that, not indifference towards your cause,
is why I’m not going to talk to you.
These cards are available at the front desk as you leave the building.
As well as public notices in elevators.
Equip yourself with a card as you leave the building. If you are approached by someone asking you to save the whole world, simply hand them a card. Go have lunch and have a nice day.
thank-you!
Favorite.
I have 20 cards in my back pocket right now. Guarantee they’ll all be gone by the time I hit Burnside Bridge.
THANK YOU.
Neevel is brilliant.
I need to get me one of these. Or 50 of them.
And don’t forget that these guys work on commission. If you want to make sure 100% of your donation goes to a non-profit, make it directly to the non-profit. These canvasses keep a commission of up to 50% of your donation!
Walking the gauntlet to the bus mall or MAX train can be harrowing.
It’s easy enough to say to the canvassers, “I don’t feel like talking right now.”
But what to say to all the people who sit on the sidewalk or approach asking for spare change or a dollar? I seriously need a card. Or ten.
“NO, THANK YOU.” works as well and costs less to print and recycle.
I just want one that says, “Dear Greenpeace: sales got us into this mess. It isn’t gonna get us out of it.”
Do you have a card for people who don’t want to be constantly interrupted by advertising and corporate marketing/messaging? Maybe there is a ‘zone’ I could avoid on my way to buy a $30 sandwich for lunch at the local designer grocery store?
Sometimes layoffs happen, and it sucks. Suddenly rent is due and you have to take any shit job that comes by. Sometimes that shit job is canvassing, for which commissions are next to nothing. Bad jobs happen to good people, keep that in mind.