Viral advertisement on homeless awareness wows viewers with two-sided story

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Depaul International, a homeless charity in London, asks people to take another look.

There's always a second side to every story. Depaul International, a homeless charity, invites people to take a step back and see the other side of the story, as their advertisement creased on a wall corner presents two sides on how people see and should see homelessness. A picture of one of the ad's side was initially posted on Reddit, showing half on the outdoor phase and the other half down the side.

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Highlights

By Hannah Raissa Marfil (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
4/13/2015 (9 years ago)

Published in Marriage & Family

Keywords: Homelessness, Helping, Charity, Encouragement, Story, Corner Ad, Advertisement, Depaul International, London

span style="line-height: 15.8599996566772px;">MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The first half tells people discouraging things about helping the homeless, and if the viewer isn't paying attention, they might just easily brush the message off as nothing important.

However, it's not difficult to see that the message could just be a part of a bigger message and ad, as it is positioned by the crease of the corner. Taking a step back, people could see a whole different story - from a negative position into an entirely encouraging one:

There's no way in the world you'd turn someone in need away. Take a young homeless person, for example. You could bring them in for the night because let's face it, out on the street absolutely anything might happen. You could be helping to stop someone being robbed, beaten up or even worse, abused. It's cold and lonely out there. The thought of it makes you shiver. Young people need a helping hand. They're having a tough time, but a safe secure place would help. It's not really your problem, but you could still make a difference.
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Depaul International has global affiliates working to help the homeless find shelter. According to their Facebook page, the ads are part of their London-wide campaign encouraging people to become one of their volunteers by welcoming a young homeless person into their home for the night.

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