What things in life do you not what to see?
What things do you avoid?
What does the world look like from someone else’s perspective?
In a previous blog post we explored marketing strategies for beggars. It was suggested that beggars often rely on the idea to evoke pity. Whenever you explore a topic, you should always reflect upon all the other people and/or animals that might be affected. We have explored this topic from the beggars’ point of view and now it is the turn of people who are potential givers. Here we can identify at least two groups.
- people who never give to beggars
- people who occasionally give to beggars
- people who give to beggars
To find the best marketing strategy, all these perspectives should be taken into account. Let us look at begging from the perspective of someone who never gives money. What arguments might lie behind this view? Go here to read an article about this topic.
Giving money
- makes begging more attractive – more beggars
- encourages people not to work – a high work ethics should be encouraged instead
- little or no control over what beggars spend their money on – might encourage people to buy alcohol and drugs
- prevents giving equally to all poor people
- difficult to judge who needs our money the most
- better to give money to charities since they are experts
- no one else gives to beggars – none of my friends or family
From the perspective of someone who occasionally gives to beggars.
- heartbreaking but it is impossible to give every time
- the occasionally handout is better than nothing
- support both charities and beggars
- prevents crime
From the perspective of someone who gives to beggars.
- no right to decide what someone else spends their money on
- have a moral obligation to help people
- try to do positive things in life
- everyone deserves respect
- family tradition to help others
Can you add ideas from the perspective of a child?
- do not like to sleep on the street . . .
The aim with this little exercise is to enhance the way we normally direct our attention and this will help us notice new things. This will eventually help us to receive a fuller and more accurate picture. It may be helpful to try to describe different people’s voices. Try with people you know and some who you do not know. The thinking technique OPV can be used.
The World by Other People’s View, an example from our ebook
Once I asked a large construction company, which were building a metro tunnel, whether they could employ twenty blind people. No, they argued, that was impossible.
I told them then that at that very moment twenty divers were working for that company in pitch dark, scraping the poles that Amsterdam is built on.
Photo. kheinz46
