| Re: "Anti-panhandling ads shouldn’t have run," by Paul Farquhar, Letters, October 20-26, 2005.
I'm upset at the suggestion that Fast Forward screen its advertising. If it’s truth in advertising that is your issue, I think you've picked the wrong target. In the most recent Fast Forward, there is a Coca-Cola ad with the caption "Fresh," which is an outright lie – there is nothing fresh about a can of cola that’s been sitting on the shelf full of preservatives for perhaps a year. Why is nobody bothering them?
Is the Calgary Downtown Association lying that some panhandlers are addicts? Is McDonald’s lying that they are committed to quality? Is the Future so Friendly when you've been on the picket lines three months?
We live in a world where media frequently screen their advertising – not for truth, but for compliance with an agenda. As evidence, Adbusters Magazine has tried putting anti-McDonald’s ads all over North America with huge resistance. What we need is freedom of speech and activism. We need the freedom to put our words out there, whether others will disagree or not. Telus can mislead thousands because they have money. I disagree with Telus, but I believe in freedom.
The anti-panhandling ad is promoting freedom… freedom from drug addictions. They even touch on the idea that there are addicts in all society's classes, as the people featured holding the signs appear "upper-class." They even offer an alternative to giving beggars money.
I don't think it’s the CDA we need to be concerned about. Maybe instead we should be concerned about AISH (Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped) and the fact that people can barely pay their rent with the money they receive from it. And worse, they are not encouraged to get a job, as they will lose their benefits. One's options are either get a full-time job at a whopping $7.50 an hour – a barely livable wage, especially for a handicapped person – or continue to have the security of AISH paying the rent and get the rest of the needed money through less than desirable means. People are forced to either work under the table or to panhandle to make ends meet.
I admire Fast Forward for running the campaign and for their article regarding it (Amy Steele). Fast Forward remains the paper that will show two opposing views only pages apart without batting an eyelid – a true voice of the people, whether it be Telus, the Calgary Downtown Association or a panhandler.
Censorship is wrong.
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